Saturday afternoon, family and friends gathered in the front yard of Christine Royal Jones to help her celebrate her 97th birthday! Her family honored her by putting on a drive-by celebration in front of Jones’ home on Jim Outlaw Road in Duplin County. Jones is well known by many folks who’ve come to love and respect her over the years. She was employed by the Kelly family of Mount Olive where she was a mentor and role model to the children of Bobby and Shirley Kelly. Several of the Kelly children were on hand to share memories of how Jones helped inspire them. Jones is the proud mother of her own ten children, and she now has 36 grandchildren, 56 great-grandchildren and 68 great-great-grandkids. One family member said, “What this world needs today is a lot more role models like her.”
