Janet McConnell Jones, 91, of Marshall, Texas, died Sunday, September 20, 2026, surround by family and caregivers at her home.

She was born Janet Leigh McConnell on July 2, 1935, in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Pedlar Putnam McConnell and Frona Lee Evans McConnell. She married Dr. Roger Kay Jones on July 1, 1961, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Jones was serving in the Navy when they married, and the young family moved often: Dallas, Texas, where their first daughter, Lauren, was born; New London, Connecticut, where Hollis was born; Hawaii for a few years; and back to Dallas, where their third daughter, Meredith, was born. They settled in Marshall in 1970.

Janet's life was in the arts. She danced ballet from childhood through college and ran the Janet Jones School of Ballet in Marshall in the mid-1970s. She was part of the group that brought the Michelson Museum of Art to Marshall in 1985, and she went on to serve as a docent and board
member. She was also deeply involved with the Longview Ballet Theatre. She loved the piano and was devoted to her practice with her teacher, Jimmy Johnson. She loved the theater in every form; Romeo and Juliet and the Nutcracker were two of her favorite ballets and Phantom of the
Opera her favorite musical.She was also a faithful participant in theology studies at East Texas Baptist University with Dr. Bruce Tankersley.

Away from the arts, she was a voracious reader, an avid tennis player, a gardener and a dog lover. Her yard was one of the most beautiful in town, and she took great pride in keeping it that way. She drank her morning coffee on a garden bench, looking over her work. Her dogs were family. After a Saluki, Afghan Hound and Borzoi phase, she fell completely in love with a champion Bichon Frise named Runner, and the two were inseparable.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Roger Kay Jones, and her sisters, Donna McConnell Buzzelli and Katherine McConnell Goforth.

She is survived by her daughters, Lauren K. Jones and her husband, Jeffrey Maurer, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Hollis McConnell Jones of Dripping Springs, Texas; and Meredith Jones Mooty of Marshall; and by her grandchildren, Rennold Jones Wacht of St. Louis, Missouri;
Alexis B. Csaszar of Austin, Texas; Hollis Pinczehelyi of New York City; Grayson Maurer of Cape Girardeau; and McConnell Pinczehelyi of Dripping Springs,Texas.

Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, September 26, 2026, at Downs Funeral Home in Marshall, followed by a funeral service at 2 p.m. at the funeral home. Entombment will follow at Colonial Gardens Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund at curealz.org

Click the link below to live stream the services.

https://youtu.be/YEcCGxMeVDY?si=kxaMvD1zLSbz-SMS&t=1