Barbara Jones Price

Barbara Nell Jones Price passed away peacefully at her daughter’s home in Hammond, Louisiana on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.  She was born at her home in Baptist, Louisiana on October 20, 1941 to Lloyd Lamar “Hank” Jones of Bantry, North Dakota and Nell White Jones of Baptist, Louisiana. She was preceded in death by her parents and her son-in-law Laurent Edouard Lafargue.  Barbara is survived by her children, Donald Wayne Price (Belinda), Henry Lloyd Price, Elizabeth Lea Price Lafargue, and Margaret Nell Price Fekete (Joey); she leaves behind 8 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.   She is also survived by her siblings Ronnie Lamar Jones (Gail), Sandra Sue Jones Gill (W.T.) and Dale Henry Jones (Rita) and several nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews. 

Barbara graduated from Hammond High School in 1959.  She attended LSU and SLU and graduated with a degree in English. Barbara lived her life focusing on helping others and sharing the love of Christ in every job whether it was at Hammond State School as the Volunteer Coordinator, a clerk at the Registrar of Voters office in Hammond, teaching at the Head Start Program in Ponchatoula, teaching English in the Independence Boys High School.  She then began working with her father as an insurance agent, at Jones-Hinson Insurance Agency in Hammond.  She and her brother, Dale, eventually bought them out and ran the agency themselves. During this time, she was very active in the community and her home church, New Beulah Baptist.  One of the many ways she served the community was teaching literacy at the Tangipahoa Parish Library System as a volunteer.  After selling the insurance agency, she followed this passion to Houston, Texas where she wrote a grant to provide her a job with the Texas Public Library system in Houston.  Her program was such a success that she was hired as an employee and the library provided her the opportunity to return to LSU to earn her master’s degree in Library Science and completed her master’s Program in August of 1994.  She returned to Houston for several years and was then recruited by the Beaumont Public Library system, where she eventually retired. She moved to Nashville, TN to serve with AmeriCorps Seniors program and worked in their Tennessee Literacy Coalition for one year.  Upon completion of that program, she wanted to get closer to family, so she moved to Jackson, MS. To no one’s surprise, she went to work for the Mississippi Public Library system in Jackson. After retiring from that program, she was asked to work for the Friends of the Jackson Public Library System where she eventually retired for the last time.  In every community she lived in, she was active in her church, volunteering teaching Sunday School with children and youth, and singing in their choirs.  While in Jackson, MS she was asked to join the Mississippi Retired Community Chorale where she sang in two concerts a year. The final one was on Mother’s Day in 2019.  Following lunch with her family, she moved back to Hammond, Louisiana.  She was a member of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Hammond.  

Music was a love of Barbara’s her entire life.  She was in the Hammond High School Band and Choir and the LSU Tiger Band.  Besides music, she loved to crochet afghans and shawls.  She also loved quilting and needlework.  During COVID 19, she supplied shawls and afghans to all the residents of two of the nursing homes in Hammond.  

Barbara wrote that the goal of her life was to live every day as a sacred gift and to see everything and everyone as sacred. She believed she was to act so that others would see the love of God in all her actions.  There is no way to even begin to count the number of people’s lives that she touched with her love and compassion.  

Family and friends will be received at Harry McKneely & Son Funeral Home, 2000 N. Morrison Blvd, Hammond, Louisiana 70401 on Monday, April 17, 2023 from 9:00 am until 11:00 am.

A funeral service will be held in the Funeral Home Chapel in Hammond, on Monday at 11:00 am, with Rev Buddy Day officiating.

Interment will follow at New Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery in Hammond, Louisiana.

The family has requested that memorials be sent to a ministry established by her daughter with the help of several United Methodist churches and the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana. Center of Hope for Tangipahoa, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization. Center of Hope serves those in need with a variety of programs in Tangipahoa Parish.  Memorials may be sent to Center of Hope for Tangipahoa, Inc. at 1111 W. Morris Avenue, Suite D, Hammond, LA 70403.  

An on-line guest book is available at www.harrymckneely.com.