While many girls her age were in high school, Passie "Pat" Jones was in college, preparing to be a scientist. Her lifelong and infectious interest in chemistry and science took her from academic research labs to the state crime lab.
“She was an inspiration and encouraged my love for the sciences at an early age,” said Michael Jones, a grandson who lives in San Diego. “She allowed me to explore things like chemistry and astronomy.”
Passie Othello Saperstein Jones, known as Pat by many, of Atlanta, died May 7 from complications of Alzheimer’s. She was 85. Her body was cremated and a memorial gathering is planned for June 30. Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Jones was born in Atlanta, but moved to New York as a young girl, after her mother died, said Lee W. Saperstein, a half-brother who lives in Nantucket.
“She was very dedicated to her studies,” he said. “Our father was very much a man who could figure things out, and I think there was some genetic wisdom passed on there. Dad was always intrigued about how things worked.”
Mrs. Jones earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry and enjoyed unlocking the mysteries of science, said Janice Dell, a daughter who lives in Atlanta. She came back to Atlanta in the late 1940s, after she earned her degrees, and worked at Emory University before getting married and starting a family.
She put her chemistry career on hold and took on the role of mother and homemaker for 25 years, Mrs. Dell said. But when she and her husband divorced, it was time for Mrs. Jones to go back to work.
“Because of her chemistry background, she looked for a job where she could use that, and she got a job with the GBI,” her daughter said. “She testified a lot in cases, and she found that very interesting.”
During her time at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Mrs. Jones worked in the state crime lab. She was also an investigator for the bureau’s Missing Children Information Center, in the late '80s.
In her spare time, she enjoyed folk dancing, which she picked up after her marriage ended, her daughter said.
“I think after the divorce she wanted to do things she really wanted to do,” Mrs. Dell said. “She loved the people and the freedom of the dancing the most, I think.”
Throughout her life, Mrs. Jones was known as an adept problem-solver, her daughter and half-brother said.
“She had just a wonderful brain,” Mrs. Dell said. “She was pragmatic and could think things through because of her thought process.”
Mrs. Jones is also survived by two additional daughters, Allison Dwyer of S. Berwick, Maine, and Deborah Jones of Hollywood, Fla.; another half-brother, David Saperstein of Palo Alto, Calif., and seven grandchildren.
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