Local woman turns 105, Family, community reflect on her impact

SALISBURY, Md. – A birthday party fit for a queen, with a room full of people, celebrating 105 trips around the sun, for Ms. Mary Gladys Jones.

Gladys’s niece and God Daughter, Patricia Jones-White, said the Eastern Shore native is cruising through a century, with so much life to offer.

“She’s been a perfect role model and she’s able to share so much history, because she has seen so much history; she is history,” Jones-White said.

A part of her history began when she found her love for teaching. The dedicated educator taught in the Wicomico County school system for eight decades and touched the lives of thousands of students.

Jones-White said in her community, the name Ms. Jones rang bells.

“When I would come, and we would go to the grocery store, she always met someone who she had taught,” Jones-White said. “She either taught them, the mother, or the grandmother, or somebody, and she still stays in touch with them, so she’s special to a lot of people here.”

With no biological children of her own, Ms. Jones took pride in being an aunt.  With many of her nieces and nephews living outside of Delmarva, her niece, Shelia Barckley, said no matter how far they are from home, they all take a piece of her wisdom with them.

“She’s always a part of me, no matter what I do or say,” Barckley said. “Sometimes, if I go to say something and it doesn’t sound like it’s the correct way to speak, I will quickly change it, because I can hear her in my ear saying, ‘That’s not correct.”