Dianna Y. Jones

DIANNE YVONNE JONES was born in Great Bend, Kansas, on February 2, 1958, to Orville R. Booker and Shirley A. Alston. She was the fourth child of the four daughters of their union.

Growing up as the daughter of an A. M. E. minster, she moved around a lot with the family throughout her childhood. She graduated from Kirkwood High School. After high school, she married Charles A. Runnels II; they had one son, Charles A. Runnels III (CT). Dianne started her working career at McDonald Douglas, now Boeing, St. Louis. She moved to Chicago, Illinois, and attended Benedictine University, Illinois, earning her bachelor’s degree in accounting, becoming a Certified Public Accountant. While living in Chicago, she continued her career with a sales position at the United Postal Service (UPS). Homesick for family, Dianne moved back to the St. Louis and later the St. Charles area, where she purchased her home in O’Fallon, Missouri. She continued her career at CITI Mortgage from where she retired. Dianne joined Church On The Rock, where she jumped right in serving as an active volunteer in several ministries. It was serving in the ministry at church where she met her current husband, Jerry Jones, U. S. Army (retired). After being single for over thirty years, she found someone she wanted to share the rest of her life. Dianne and Jerry married on July 7, 2012. She moved into the home Jerry had built, waiting for his future wife, in Wentzville, Missouri, where she resided until her passing. Dianne and Jerry spent their time caring and loving their two furbabies, Toby and the late Roxie, and traveling the world. Dianne will be remembered for living life on her terms, always seeing the world as full of opportunities. She would challenge others to join her or get left behind. She loved traveling, even if she traveled alone. She and Jerry traveled to every part of the world together, enjoying life to the fullest. Her final years were full and
peaceful.
 

Dianne left us suddenly on June 7, 2025, peacefully in her sleep. She was preceded in death by her father, Orville R. Booker; and sisters, Joyce A. Mack and Nicholette W. Booker.
She is survived by her husband, Jerry Jones; son, Charles A. Runnels III (CT); granddaughters, Alyssa Runnels (Butterfly) and Kalani Runnels; mother, Shirley Alston; sister, Janet Thomas; half-sister, Lori Dunklin; stepdaughters, Stephanie G. Goolsby; son-in-law, Leonard, Jasmine L. Jones; stepson, Jeremiah Jones; grandchildren, Michael, Serena, Alex, and Henry; and a host of brothers-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, other extended family, and friends who truly loved and will miss her dearly.

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