Vicki Jones

Vicki Jones, 73, of Idaho Falls, passed away peacefully at home on April 16, 2023.

Vicki was born July 19, 1949, in Idaho Falls, to Christian Hans and Dora Eloise Hall Jockumsen, and was raised there along with her two brothers, Robert and Phillip. She attended Idaho Falls schools and graduated from Skyline High School in 1967.

Following graduation, Vicki married Jon Dale Peterson, of Shelley, on December 14, 1968 in Idaho Falls. Jon served as a Sergeant in Company B, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, United States Army, and died in service to his country, near Long Khanh, Republic of Vietnam on April 1, 1969.

After experiencing such profound tragedy, Vicki found herself a young widow repairing what fate had broken. At the "Tiki" on Halloween Night in 1970, she met the ski bum of her dreams, Robert (Bob) Jones, and they married a year later in Ketchum, Idaho. She received her nursing license in 1971 and worked at the Molly Scott Clinic in Sun Valley. She also worked for Scott Goggle and Ski Pole Company in Ketchum as a "Goggle Girl". While living north of Ketchum with Bob, she took up alpine and nordic skiing. She spent many enjoyable days skiing on Baldy or cross country skiing the canyons in the area with Bob and the many lifelong friends the two made there. Besides skiing, Vicki also loved camping and fishing.

While still living near Ketchum in 1974, Vicki and Bob were blessed with the birth of their first child, a daughter they named Angela. They returned to Idaho Falls in 1975, where Bob worked for the City of Idaho Falls, while Vicki set to raising Angie. The couple would then welcome another daughter, Lindsay, in 1980.

In 1982, work took the family to Monterey, Virginia, where Bob worked on a hydroelectric project. Vicki took an active role, with her girls, in the Girl Scouts. Vicki also had the opportunity to be in Washington, D.C. for the opening of the Memorial Wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and to honor the sacrifice of her late husband Jon. The family spent many weekends traveling the winding, hilly roads of Virginia, visiting various landmarks, including Monticello where Vicki's deft mom skills once saved President Jefferson's library rug from a car sick Angie.

With the work project in Virginia complete, the family returned to Idaho Falls in 1984, where they remained. During this time, Vicki raised two daughters, a garden, and potted plants too numerous to count. She was also a talented cook and treated the family to delicious meals. Vicki enjoyed looking for and collecting rocks. She was a member of the Idaho Falls Gem & Mineral Society. One of her favorite trips was traveling up the Oregon coast and collecting agates along the beaches. She also enjoyed riding their ATV on the many mountain trails of eastern Idaho while camping.

A car accident in 1997 took Lindsay from Vicki, Bob, and Angie. For a second time Vicki was made to suffer unspeakable tragedy. Afterward she always made a point to be a friend to anyone she could tell really needed one. On your worst hair day, she would tell you how nice your shirt looked. If she was out on a walk and noticed you had flowers that needed deadheading, then it was done. She had a quality of kindness and charisma such that she was allowed to go where most couldn't. She could touch the art at museums (or grab a start from a cactus in the roped off area at the Alamo in San Antonio… true story) and no one seemed to mind. Anyone who ever saw her in action knows that she never knew a stranger. She afforded the same attentive kindness to grocery baggers that she did to senators. Vicki was a wonderful grandmother and loved her role as Grandma. She was a steel trap, keeping the secrets of her adult grandchildren from their parents. She reveled in that and her grandkids appreciated her for it.

Vicki gained many friends through her life, and cherished and loved them all. Vicki is survived by her loving husband, Robert Jones of Idaho Falls and her daughter Angie (Nic) Baker of Emporia, Kansas; grandchildren, Ian Baker, Lucy Baker and Heidi Olsen; brother Robert Jockumsen of Idaho Falls. She was preceded in death by her daughter Lindsay Rae Jones, and brother Philip D Jockumsen.

Per Vicki's request, there will be no funeral or service. She wanted her remains cremated and ashes placed in some of her favorite places.