From pot pie to Homeland comforts: Shirley Jones reflects on a life of care and community
As Shirley Jones wheels through the Homeland corridors, she greets the many friends she made in only four months.
“I do have friendships here,” she said. “I like all the activities. Everything they have, I go to.”
Shirley’s outgoing nature comes from growing up as the second child and eldest girl of 15 siblings. In the summer, the boys – 10 of them – slept on the porch. In the colder months, there were three kids to a bunk.
By the time Shirley was 11, she was helping care for the younger kids.
“Back in those days, when you were 11 years old, you worked,” she recalls. “I changed diapers. I did housework.”
With that many kids in the house, she learned to put everything away so that things wouldn’t get lost or clutter the place.
“I’m like that today,” she said. “If I get something out today, it doesn’t lay there until tomorrow.”
Shirley grew up in the countryside outside of Mt. Holly Springs, where her father worked in construction.
“There were many times we didn’t have bread,’’ she said, “but my mother made a lot of pot pie.”
Following a move, Shirley attended high school in Boiling Springs, where she met her first husband, who worked at the Frog, Switch, & Manufacturing Co. in Carlisle. Together, they had a boy and a girl, but he died suddenly from a heart attack at age 45.
People helped her through that time, and she went to work to support her family. Family friends owned Pennsylvania Dutch Candies in Mt. Holly Springs, and Shirley started as a candymaker before rising to an office job.
One day, one of her brothers mentioned Tom Jones, a friend and coworker at Milton Hershey School. He thought Shirley should meet him. His name?
Shirley’s kids loved Tom, and they were soon married.
She laughs at both of them sharing names with famous celebrities: “I wasn’t even familiar with her as an actress until I married Tom and people started telling me about her.”
The kids at Milton Hershey school also loved Tom. He was an alumnus who enrolled at age 5 after his father died. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Marines. One day, he stopped by his alma mater, which led to the job he held for 30 years as a plumber.
“He was a jokester,” Shirley said of her late husband. “That’s why he was so well-loved at the school. He made people laugh. After we got married, he came to my church, and he started making people there laugh as well.’’
Through Tom, Shirley got a job in the Milton Hershey School office. She loved getting involved in the students’ activities, including music and games. She worked there for five years before retiring.
Shirley was also active in her church, singing soprano in the choir. Ask what her favorite hymn is, and she immediately said, “How Great Thou Art.”
She receives phone calls and cards from friends and family, and she attends family birthday parties. She loves being free from paying bills.
“Everything’s paid for,” she said. “You don’t have to worry.”
She gets her beautiful white hair done in the Homeland beauty shop every two weeks. Homeland staff provide manicures – a regular offering every Friday for residents.
“There’s lots to like,’’ Shirley said of Homeland. “They take very good care of us.”
And one more thing, she adds.
“They do feed you well,” she said. “They give you plenty here to eat.”
Homeland Center (www.homelandcenter.org) offers levels of care including personal care, memory care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. Homeland also provides hospice, home care, home health and palliative care services to serve the diverse and changing needs of families throughout central Pennsylvania. For more information or to arrange a tour, please call 717-221-7900.
