Mary Lizzy Jones Clemons was born on October 20, 1934, to the late Lillian and Ivory Jones, Sr. in Kensington, Georgia. She was the eighth of nine children.

Mary Lizzy was raised in Kensington (now known as Chickamauga) and attended Pleasant Grove Elementary School and Hill High School in Lafayette, GA. The youngest girl of seven, she was very close to her six sisters and was the typical “baby girl.”

Mary Lizzy received Christ at an early age and joined Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Kensington where she enthusiastically sang in the choir. On April 17, 1983, she joined Zion Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Cleveland.

On February 2, 1954, she married Ralph A. Clemons and to the union two daughters were born, Cynthia and Mary Alice. In 1966 after losing everything in a fire, they headed north to Cleveland, Ohio to make a better life for the family. Mary Lizzy was always a stay-at-home mom; her potato salad, peach cobbler and fried apple turnovers were highly sought after. Being a homemaker, when the grandchildren and then great grandchildren were born she was able to babysit them until they started school. She became affectionately known as “Mama Lizzy.” Her contagious smile and nurturing spirit welcomed her grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s friends, and she became their Mama Lizzy too.

Mary Lizzy’s many relatives loved her; she was the sweetest, kindest, most generous person and always willing to help. Several relatives migrated to Cleveland and her door was always open providing them with a temporary home. She hosted several large family reunions in her big backyard at her home on Tarkington.

Along with Mary Alice, she started a basement ceramics business teaching classes and even firing their own greenware with the huge kiln they had in the basement. She also loved her soap operas and Family Feud, not to mention an intense game of Bingo and Scrabble. She was a loyal fan and you could always find her cheering on the Cleveland Browns, Cavaliers, and Guardians although she often found herself frustrated.

On November 4, 2023, under the care of her devoted daughters, Mary Lizzy went from labor to rest. She is preceded in death by her parents, Lillian and Ivory Jones, Sr., siblings Harling Jones, Sr. Lorina Burse, Forrest Wilson, Myrtle Horton, and Hazel Adams.

Mary Lizzy is survived by her loving children, two daughters and one son: Cynthia (Darrick) Bell, Mary Alice (Robert) Horne, and Dwayne Jones; special daughter and son, Syretha Meadows of Hampton, VA and Mark Jones of Ringgold, GA; two sisters, Arrie R. Dews and Mamie Mathis of Chickamauga, GA; brother, Ivory Jones, Jr. of Lyerly, GA. Four grandchildren; Robert A. Horne, Sr., Cynthia (Robert) Thompson, Karla Goczo, and Ralph Christopher Horne. Five great grandchildren; Robert A. Horne, Jr., Isiah D. Taborn, Kayla Goczo, Tera Horne, and Rylee Horne; special family Sonya, Aamir, and Bashiyr Mani; close friends and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and other relatives.