Mrs. Linda Keeny Jones

Linda Keeny Jones passed away peacefully on October 25, 2024 after a brief illness. Born December 30, 1938, Linda was the daughter of the late Charles Leander Keeny and the late Blanche Louise Stauffer Keeny. Linda was a 1960 graduate of Duke University, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. She later earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from The University of South Carolina. After graduating from college, Linda was hired by The United States Department of Defense, where she worked at The National Security Agency (NSA) in Washington, DC for several years. She had a security clearance at NSA, and throughout her life never shared the nature of her work. She later worked in international banking at Citibank on Park Avenue in New York City. She retired in the 1990s after a career as a Financial Analyst at Lockwood Greene in Spartanburg, SC. Linda was married for 29 years to Jon L. Zoole of Spartanburg, who is the father of her two children. In 1989, Linda and Otis Clifton Jones of Spartanburg were married, and the two were best friends and constant companions for almost 30 years until his death in 2019. A wonderful mother to her children Laura and Peter, she made sure they felt her loving presence, guidance, boundary setting, and great pride in their accomplishments all her life. Linda’s 15 minutes of fame—actually more like 90 minutes---were when she was a three-time Jeopardy champion on national TV. She was an insatiable information seeker, constantly using Google to look up any data with which she was not familiar. Her knowledge was wide-ranging, and she was a stickler for correct grammar and spelling. The misuse of the apostrophe was particularly annoying to her. A voracious reader all her life, Linda brought a book along wherever she went. In fact, in the years immediately following her college graduation, she often read books in French and Spanish. More recently, she was a member of the Island Readers book club on Edisto and the Fourth Friday Book Club of Charleston. An avid and accomplished bridge player, Linda was a member of the Edisto Island Duplicate Bridge Club and the Tuesday Morning Bridge Club. She played bridge all her adult life, and often said that bridge was the vehicle for having met and gotten to know many of her friends over the years. She loved music of all kinds and was a longtime supporter of the symphonies of Greenville, Spartanburg, and Charleston. She enjoyed Chamber music as well and was a subscriber of the Converse College Chamber Music series and Chamber Music of Charleston. She especially enjoyed the chamber concerts at the Presbyterian church on Edisto Island. Her classical favorites were Debussy, Beethoven, Puccini, and many others. But Linda also liked contemporary music: she loved Elvis, Spanish guitar, beach music, and bossa nova, especially Sergio Mendes. She loved to dance, especially the Carolina Shag, and loved to waltz with her husband Otis at the Cotillion Club in Charleston. Linda was a proud and ardent fan of the Duke Blue Devils and of ACC basketball, rarely missing a Duke basketball game on television. She also loved watching professional tennis and particularly admired Rafael Nadal. Linda loved living on Edisto Island in the beautiful and pristine South Carolina Lowcountry, where she especially enjoyed boating, crabbing, reading on the beach, and being surrounded by the birds and serene waters of Edisto. Edisto was all the more appealing because of its proximity to Charleston, where Otis and Linda especially enjoyed fine dining, trying many of the city’s top restaurants. She also loved shopping on King Street and all the other advantages of this beautiful city. Linda was a member of Trinity Church on Edisto Island, where she was a longtime member of the Altar Guild. Prior to moving to Edisto, Linda was a lifetime Lutheran. Her maternal grandfather, Luther Grant Stauffer, was a Lutheran minister. Before moving to Edisto, she was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Spartanburg, SC for over 20 years. Linda is survived by her daughter Laura Elizabeth Zoole Owen, son-in-law George William (Bill) Owen of Columbia, SC, and granddaughters Louise Parnell (Lucy) Owen and Katherine Miller (Mills) Owen; her son Peter Grant Zoole, daughter-in-law Jennifer Zoole, and granddaughter Audrey Grace Zoole of Lake Worth, Florida. She is also survived by her sister, Carolyn Keeny Kreckman of Bonita Springs, Florida and her husband Fred. Linda is also survived by her former husband and father of her children, Jon L. Zoole of Spartanburg, South Carolina and her stepchildren Jeffery Stuart Jones of Roswell, Georgia and Cynthia Jones Davis of Columbia, SC and their respective children. The family especially wishes to thank Senior Care Solutions and Services, Pathway Hospice, and Dr. Fred Smith for their excellent and loving care. The funeral service for Linda will be held at 2 o’clock, Sunday, November 17th, at Trinity Church, 1589 Highway 174, Edisto Island, South Carolina 29438 with Rev. Wey Camp officiating. Immediately following a committal service in the churchyard, a reception for guests will be held in the parish hall. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Trinity Church, 1589 Highway 174, Edisto Island, South Carolina 29438 and The American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 6704 Hagerstown, MD 21741. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family and will announce further plans.

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Mrs. Linda Keeny Jones

December 30, 1938 - October 25, 2024