Reminisce: Jones Brothers opened a mortuary

LIMA — The Jones Brothers Mortuary was a landmark in Lima. At a time when segregation was the norm, it was a black-owned and -operated business that held its own for several decades at 1302 Oakland Parkway.

After selling the business in 1988, one of the brothers, Paul Jones, told The Lima News just how it was in Lima when he was growing up, and how his family got started in the mortuary business.

A 1936 graduate of Lima Central High School, Jones told the newspaper that he remembered “when Lima was very much segregated. It was in the stores, including Kewpee’s. They didn’t even want to serve you in a paper sack.”

Opening a Black-owned business during that time was a risky venture. But while Jones said segregation did stifle many blacks, he and his brothers had been raised to overcome the odds.

“My brother Jacob wanted to be a doctor, but the family couldn’t afford the tuition. We put our pennies together to put him through mortuary school, and after he finished, he helped send me to school,” Paul Jones said.

The family originally came to Lima by way of Detroit, where patriarch Robert worked first as a barber and later as a contractor. At his death in 1967, it was noted that he also served as a pastor at many area churches in Van Wert and Paulding. He was married four times and widowed three.

Settling in Lima, Robert made certain his children got a good education in the Lima schools. His son Jacob was the first to attend the Cincinnati College of Embalming. He then apprenticed for five years with a Black mortuary service in Cincinnati, Jones and Crittendon.

In 1940, the family opened Jones Brothers Mortuary in the family home. Jacob was listed as the manager, as he was a licensed embalmer and funeral director. His brother Paul was listed as the assistant. Although work there began in mid-January of that year, it wasn’t until spring that a grand opening was held.

By 1947, the brothers opened a second mortuary in Toledo. Jacob ran that business, with Paul — by then also finished with mortuary school — running the Lima operation.

Paul and his wife Ruby, who helped out at the mortuary, worked hard for years to keep the operation running. Ruby also helped supplement the income with her own shop, Ruby’s Beauty Salon, at 408 1/2 S. Nye St., Lima.

In 1988, they sold the business to Coleman and Sylvia Clark Jr., of Columbus. But prior to their retirement, they spoke to The Lima News about their years of service to the Lima community.

Although Paul was quiet about his contribution to the community, Ruby did confess, “I’m the only one who knows how many people my husband has buried free because they just didn’t have the money.”

Paul was highly regarded around Lima and generally recognized as a generous and reserved businessman.

They both said that they never saw skin color when they did their job.

“Everybody deserves a decent burial,” Ruby said.

At Paul’s funeral in 1998, he was eulogized for his leadership in the black community. He was 79 when he died.

“Paul Jones was a role model to everybody in the community,” Lima attorney Jerry O. Pitts said at the funeral. “He was one of the first professionals we had here.”

This Reminisce originally appeared in The Lima News on Feb. 15, 2006.