Rejeana Denise Jones

Hi Mom,

I’ve spent the last two days trying to figure out what to say here.  Sure, I could give the usual spiel about where you were born, when you died, who you lost along your short road to death, and who you left behind.  But that felt small and hollow, and you were anything and everything but a small hollow woman.  No, you were expansive, and the crater you left can never be fully expressed in a simple obituary.  But I’ll do my best to tell the world that your love was genuine, and your rage was really your grief doing its best to keep you safe.

I’ll let them know that behind all that tough veneer was a woman who did community theater and let her kids lick the brownie batter off the spoon.  That you were an unapologetically proud Black woman who could love as hard as you fought.  The world was not kind to you, and along the road to today, you and I lost our way.  I’m sorry, I know you are too, for all the things we left unsaid.  There is no going back, only forward.  Loving you has taught me that.

You leave behind three beautiful grandchildren, a son as headstrong as you, and a daughter who hopes that wherever you are you’ve found the peace that this life often denied you.

I love you mom.

Rejeana Denise (Hale) Jones was born on August 9, 1964.  She was uncompromising in who she was and left a legacy as complicated as her life.  Joining her two children, Rayven Holmes and RJ Jones, in mourning her passing are her mother Mary Jane (Hale) Whiteside, her stepmother Edith Holmes, sisters Lorrie (Monique) Whiteside and Martina Holmes, her brother Rashod Holmes, as well as a whole slew of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.  She was welcomed through the veil by her father David Franklin Holmes and her sisters Andrea Tiffani (Whiteside) Henderson and La’Toni Whiteside.

A celebration of life will be held at the Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, located at 85 N Miller Rd. Akron, OH on FRIDAY, July 28, 2023 at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers the family ask that you donate to the GoFundMe set up to aid her children in paying for her service.

GoFundMe Link: https://gofund.me/399c8bdf

Services in care of The Billow Funeral Homes & Crematory, Fairlawn Chapel, 85 N Miller Road  Akron, OH 44333.