On March 3rd, 2026 our sweet Neva Clair Faris Jones went to be with our Lord. She was a funny and amazing mother, grandmother, aunt, and great grandmother. For the past six years, she had been living in a group home getting assistance in her daily activities and making new friends with some of her housemates. As a constant, she always would say she was grateful to everyone and loved the many people in her very large family. Over the last couple of years, though living with dementia, she really thrived in seeing and speaking to her family. She often would tell stories about her life and about all of those whom she cared about so deeply, both family and her friends.
Neva grew up in the small town of Graham, MO in Nodaway County at her family farm where she had 12 brothers and sisters. At age 16, she married her first love Marlin Jones, eventually living in Chicago, Illinois, Portland, Oregon and then settled down in 1967 in Phoenix, AZ with Marlin and her daughter, Susannah. For more than 20 years, she worked as a computer technician at Motorola. During her time working there, she had the heartbreaking loss of her husband Marlin in 1979. Though this was tough on her, she was a very strong-willed woman set to take on anything life had in front of her. In the early 80’s, she purchased an acre of land and began building her future home in Happy Jack, AZ on the Mogollon Rim. While living in Northern Arizona with her second love, Herbert Jones, she spent her time babysitting many children, some were forest service families, enjoying the beautiful forest weather and tending to her multiple gardens on property. She took regular vacations to Phoenix to see her daughter and grandchildren and traveled back to Missouri for family reunions. Neva was known for her crafting, gardening, personality, jokes, and even dressing up as a clown to entertain. She lived a long life of 85 years, filled with love amongst her family and friends and now she is resting well in the Lord’s hands. She is survived by her brother George Faris, daughter Susannah Jones, grandchildren Jeremy Makowski (Kirsta), Seth Makowski (Tiffany), Titus Makowski and great grandchildren Terrah Makowski, Brody Makowski, and Ember Makowski. She was preceded in death by her loves Marlin Jones and Herbert Jones, her parents Elmer and Elsie Faris and brothers Arthur, Leonard, Jim, Harold, Ed, Bryce, Adam Faris and sisters Marie Tatum, Roberta Neff, Beth Granaman and Sarah Dawson.