ROCKPORT — Jean Agatha Frye Jones, 84, died peacefully, following a long battle with dementia, Saturday, January 27, 2024, in Rockport.

Born in Rockland, November 11, 1939, she was one of seven children born to William, Sr. and Agatha Towle Frye.

Jean was a 1958 graduate of Rockport High School and was crowned Seaside Carnival Queen in 1957. During high school she was active in the band, playing both the trumpet and drums and was also a member of the basketball team.

After high school, Jean moved to Boston where she attended and graduated from Cosmetology School. There she began dating Lowell Jones, a Rockport native stationed in the Navy. Jean and Lowell were married for 22
years and had four children together.

Jean volunteered for many years as a class mother and served as a Girl Scout and Boy Scout Leader for all four of her children. At the same time, she worked as a C.N.A. at local nursing facilities and Camden Hospital, becoming director of the Activities Department before the hospital’s closing. Jean also ran an in-home day care, taking care of many local children over the years.

In 1992 Jean moved to Seminole, Florida where she lived for 21 years. There she worked at Freedom Square Nursing Home, assisting patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Returning to her beloved hometown of Rockport to be closer to her extended family, Jean settled in Rockville, just a few houses away from her childhood home. In the past few years, she moved to Merry Gardens in Camden, later to her daughter’s home in Connecticut and finally to the Knox Center and Breakwater Commons.

Jean was a very talented artist and enjoyed oil painting, mostly landscapes, as well as creating a variety of crafts for her family. She was musically gifted with a beautiful voice and carried her love of playing music throughout her entire life, playing multiple instruments including the piano, organ and trumpet.

Jean was the last surviving member of her immediate family and was predeceased by all her siblings, Colleen Roberts, Irene Eaton, William Frye, Jr., Donald Frye, Florence Fossett and Lawrence Frye.

She is survived by her children, Dr. Barri Jones-Skalky and her husband David of Norwalk, Connecticut, Lowell Jones, Jr. and his wife Susan of Union, Darren Jones and his wife Eileen of Acton, Massachusetts, Amy Jones Denekamp and her husband Richard of Emerson, New Jersey; two sisters-in-law, Alice Frye and Esther Frye; her grandchildren, Jessica Jones and her companion Aaron Tibbetts, Amy Griswold and her husband Mike, Abigail Skrabak and her husband James, Ian ‘KC’, Keira and McKenna Skalky, Jacob Denekamp, Declan Jones; as well as 6 great-grandchildren, Lydia, Brayden, Dorothy, Virginia, Evelyn, and Corrine; many nieces and nephews and a large extended family.

Family and friends are invited to visit Sunday, February 11, 2024, from 1 to 2 p.m., with celebration of life held immediately following at 2 p.m., at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. The Reverend Michelle Wiley will officiate.

Interment will be held in the Spring.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Maine Dementia Care Partnership at www.mehca.org

To share a memory or condolence with Jean’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.