Mary Ellen Jones

Mary Ellen (Maurer) Jones was born on August 10, 1947 to Erland and Mary Elizabeth (Gillette) Maurer of Spencer. She had 10 siblings and grew up on a farm outside of Greenville.

She spent her school years at Sacred Heart and Greenville-Rossie, and was in the first Clay Central graduating class in 1965. She attended Iowa State University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Home Economics Education and a Master’s Degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She married her high school sweetheart, Curtis Ray Jones, in September of 1968.

After their ISU graduations they moved to Sioux Rapids, where Mary Ellen was a beloved teacher of home economics, child development, and nutrition at Sioux Rapids-Rembrandt for twenty years. She later taught home economics at Ruthven-Ayrshire and worked at Spencer Sewing Machine Company, where she was frequently heard to say “there’s no crying in sewing” despite much evidence to the contrary.

Mary Ellen sewed prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses for many students and friends. She worked on the farm and drove the grain cart at harvest time. She enjoyed sewing colorful pillowcases for each new class of children in Head Start.

While very committed to a healthy diet for herself and her family, she would eat pie for breakfast if it was available. In the early 1990s she started quilting and sewed dozens of quilts for family and friends. Her masterpiece was an appliquéd Baltimore Album.

Mary Ellen was gifted with a tremendous amount of energy and an unmatched work ethic. She had a need for speed, earning Go-Kart racing trophies as a child and going parasailing and skydiving in her retirement. She had impeccable handwriting and kept an immaculate home. She could cook almost anything with a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup and a microwave, but made particularly delicious applesauce, lemon meringue pie, and raspberry jam.

Known as a blunt and honest speaker, Mary Ellen was a helper to her core. She collected colorful phrases such as ishkabiddle, maynard, and doofus poofus and had a great memory for funny songs. Mary Ellen believed that heaven is earthy pleasures made perfect, such as taking walks, growing flowers, watching Iowa State basketball and football and the Minnesota Twins, starting fires, reading fiction, and jumping into Lake Okoboji.

Mary Ellen passed away on Thursday, September 25, 2025 after being diagnosed with lung cancer in June of 2024. She is survived by her daughter Allie Jones McCann, her husband Dave, and their children Michael, Cathryn, and Stella; her daughter Liz Jones-Dilworth, her husband Josh, and their daughters Claudia and Quincy; her son William Jones, his wife Megan (Hess), and their children Anchor, Alma, Archie, Asher, and Alice. She also survived by her siblings Stephen (wife Monica), Chris, Fran (husband Joe) LeClair, Ann (husband Sohrab) Gandomi, Paul (wife Barbara), Julie (husband John) Greek, John (wife Pam), Sarah (husband Pete) Maurer, Michael, and Stacy. She is survived by many brothers-and-sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, October 1 from 5-7PM at Warner Funeral Home in Spencer. The funeral will be at Sacred Heart on Thursday, October 2nd at 11am followed by lunch. Donations in Mary Ellen’s memory can be made to People for Pets or to the Spencer Municipal Library Trust (write her name on check memo).