Hilda Jones

Memorial service for Hilda Mildred (Meius) Jones, 94, of Corvallis, will be Thursday, Aug. 16, 2 p.m. at the Corvallis United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave. The Rev. Bonnie Parr Philipson will officiate. Mrs. Jones died July 11 at the Mennonite Home in Albany. Private burial took place at the family plot in Pine Grove Cemetery near Peoria in Linn County. Hilda was born in Newberg, OR on Feb. 6, 1918 to Alex and Sophie (Kesu) Meius, immigrants from Estonia. She graduated from Newberg High School in 1935, Oregon State College in 1939 and New York University with a master’s degree in business in the 1940s. She was a member of Phi Kappa Phi scholastic honorary and Delta Kappa Gamma education honorary. On June 6, 1947, she married Robert Dean Jones in San Anselmo, Calif. He died in 2006. The couple settled in Corvallis where she became a professor in the Oregon State School of Business after teaching at Marin Junior College and Hamilton Air Force base in California. Following her retirement from Oregon State, Mrs. Jones taught courses throughout the western United States for the Oregon Department of Continuing Education. She also served as a volunteer teacher of English in her parents’ native country of Estonia. She enjoyed flower gardening, embroidery, needlepoint, knitting, crocheting, refinishing antique furniture and bridge. She was an avid Oregon State sports fan and contributor to the Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund. She was known among her friends as the “elevator lady” because she and her husband provided financial support for elevators in Reser Stadium, Gill Coliseum and Weatherford Hall on the OSU campus. Plaques are posted at those sites in recognition of that support. Mrs. Jones was a long-time member of the Corvallis First United Methodist Church. Other memberships included the Albany Regional Museum, the Benton County Historical Society, the Linn-Benton Community College Foundation, Kappa Delta sorority and the OSU Alumni Association. She and her late husband were lifelong benefactors of Oregon State and established several scholarships at the university and LBCC. Survivors include son Gary and his wife Sarah Wright of Salem, grandson Austin Jones of Salem and daughter Kathleen (Kitty) Buchner and husband John of Albany. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in Hilda’s name to the Benton County Historical Society, the Albany Regional Museum, the Corvallis First United Methodist Church, Jackson Street Youth Shelter, Linn-Benton Community College Foundation or a charity of choice.

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Hilda Jones

February 6, 1918 - July 11, 2012