Attorney-at-law and widower Derek Jones exchanges words with Monsignor Richard Albert during the Mass of thanksgiving for the life of Maureen Jones at the Stella Maris Church in Kingston on Saturday. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

There are not many funerals at which even the priest delivering the homily must stridently fight back the compulsion to weep, but it was made clear through all the tears and tributes on Saturday that philanthropist Maureen Jones was no ordinary woman.

Upon entering the churchyard, the signs were promptly noticeable. There was not even standing space left inside the church, and every single chair under the tents outside was taken. There was a string of dignitaries, "from politicians to police, from parishioners to prisoners". Prime Minister Bruce Golding was also in attendance.

Jones served Jamaica in many ways, but her most significant contribution perhaps has been to the inmates at the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre for the last 11 years.

Prison ministry

Since 1998 when the prison ministry was started, Jones and her team from the Stella Maris Church have consistently visited the prison once every week - 52 times every year! What's more, Jones functioned as a post office of sorts for parents in Jamaica and oversees who wanted to send things to their family members in the prison.

She was called 'Mother', perhaps because she would ensure that women who gave birth in prison were well cared for and that their children had a safe home and guardianship when the time came for them to leave their mothers in prison. It was not easy to find homes for all the children. Just consider that, at one point, up to nine babies were born in just four months!

Marilyn Bennett did not know Jones personally, but she knew of her and explained to The Gleaner why she had to attend the service on Saturday.

"People are just here because people like to be inspired, and even if you can't do a thing yourself, you love and admire people who take the time out to do what we would love to do ourselves but don't get to do," she said.

Inspirational woman

"Oh that woman - a genuinely inspirational woman and the crowd today is a testimony to what her life was like, her ministry - long before it was fashionable to be doing things like that, she was there in that ministry, bringing others along," an emphatic Bennett said.

Friend Jennifer Messado said Jones would be missed because "she gave of herself" and was "a continuous example of selfless love".

Maureen Jones enjoyed a long-lasting marriage to renowned attorney-at-law Derek Jones for what would have been 38 years this year.

It was an emotional sight to watch Jones' four giant sons embracing their father and each other in tears as they hoisted the coffin into the hearse for the final time. Her body will be cremated at a later date.