Leigh Kemper Jones, age 95, of Swannanoa, NC, passed away on Friday, June 12, 2020 at Givens Highland Farms Nursing Home in Black Mountain, NC. Leigh was born on November 30, 1924, in Buncombe County, NC to the late Edward Kemper and Martha Barrett Kemper.
Mrs. Jones graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry. She and her husband, Warren, moved to Swannanoa in the early 1950’s. She enjoyed singing in choruses and choirs over the course of her lifetime in Shelby, Chapel Hill, and Black Mountain. She volunteered for various organizations in the community including the Swannanoa Library and the Old Depot gift shop in Black Mountain where she served as bookkeeper. She also served as bookkeeper for In-The-Oaks Episcopal Conference Center in Black Mountain. She was an avid craftswoman especially talented at the “threaded arts” (knitting, crocheting, and tatting) with many of her pieces sent as gifts to family or put to use in her own home.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Alonzo Warren Jones, a son Walter Barrett Jones, and her brother, Edward Hudson Kemper.
Those left behind to cherish her memory are her sons, Richard (Helen) Jones, of Whittier, NC, Malcom (Faye) Jones of Vancleave, MS, and Peter Jones of Jersey City, NJ; a daughter, Elizabeth (Bill) Obekirsch of Sanford, NC; a brother, Richard Barrett (Marie) Kemper of FL; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. Mrs. Jones will be interred with her husband and son at the Western Carolina State Veterans Cemetery in Black Mountain during a small family service to be held at a later date. Penland Family Funeral Home is honored to be caring for the Jones Family.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Leigh Kemper Jones, please visit our floral store.