Obituary of Tia Juana D. Jones

Tia Juana D. Jones, age 78, passed away on August 20, 2020. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 am, Wednesday, September 2, 2020, in the Chapel at Griffin~Hillcrest. Tia Juana was born on January 19, 1942, to King Baptiste and Alexia (Shipman) Copeland in Ardmore, Okla. She attended and graduated from Lone Grove High School class of 1960. Tia Juana attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University and received her bachelor’s degree in 1964 and her master’s degree in 1982. She worked at The United States Postal Service as a rural mail carrier covering 129 miles. She retired from USPS in 1995. She held various positions in life, including teaching for the BIA school on the Turtle Mt. Reservation in North Dakota, the United States Naval Radiological Defense Lab, as a library technician in San Francisco. Tia Juana was a Mississippi Choctaw and Chickasaw, but a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation. She studied the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages and loved history. She was a member of Ringling Church of Christ. She enjoyed playing the piano, had an eclectic taste in music and was very humorous. She was preceded in death by her father, King Baptiste, step-fathers, James Hattensty and Jerry Copeland, and sister, Lola Hattensty, half brothers, Duane “Osie” Baptiste and Devon “Chito” Baptiste, her former husband, Michael Jones, aunt, Della Baptiste Jack, and two grandmothers; Sallie Shoemaker and Mamie Wilbert Shipman. Tia Juana is survived by two daughters, Robin Jones, and Rebecca Holliday and mother, Alexia Copeland, grandchildren, Ryder Naymik, Zachary Whiteman and Joshua Whiteman, sister, Rebecca Graves, half-sister, Diane Baptiste Gonzales, many nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews. Tia Juana’s dear friends Betty Baptiste and Rubye McMillian.