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Bethany Ann Jones was born in Mountain Home, Idaho on July 26, 1982, the
second daughter of Teddy and Janis Jones and sister to Katie Prayer.
 At two months Bethany contracted viral meningitis and spent a very scary
week in the hospital. Shortly after this illness Bethany was diagnosed
with a benign form of muscular dystrophy.
One of her mother’s favorite stories took place at Christmas in 1983.
Due to her low muscle tone Bethany, at 18 months was unable to walk by
herself. However she could walk down the hall by patting her hands on
the wall. Her mom was sitting in the living room on Christmas morning
waiting for everyone to wake up and open presents. The house was very
quiet when mom heard little hand pats on the wall. She looked up and
Bethany had worked her way to the end of the hall, peeked around the
corner and saw something special under the tree. It was a little train
push toy for a toddler with a handrail on the back. Bethany worked her
way down the sofa around the coffee table and finally….success---the toy
train. She grabbed the handrail and took off walking. She was
mobile!!!
 At 22 months Bethany was diagnosed with scoliosis and was fitted for a
back brace which she wore until she was five years old.
In spite of her physical limitations, Bethany was active, happy and a
delight to her family.
Bethany and her sister Katie were home schooled which gave the family
opportunities to travel and spend time at the family cabin while other
kids were at school. Each fall the family spent a week at their cabin
and while normally there was not a television, this one week each year
they took TV, VCR and movies. Beth’s conservative parents wouldn’t let
their girls watch R rated movies so both Bethany and Katie developed a
love for the older classics. “The Sound of Music”, “Singin’ in the
Rain”, and “Meet Me in St. Louis”, were just some of the favorites. Beth
was introduced to the Duke by her dad with “Tall in the Saddle” starring
John Wayne.
 Bethany was always a drama queen. As a child she acted in family skits
around the campfire, church plays and impromptu living room theatre.
The Jones’ moved to Nashville in 1996. Bethany had always expressed
frustration at being home schooled, so was enrolled in Lighthouse
Christian School her freshman year of high school. Although this wasn’t
exactly what Beth had in mind it was better than having her mom as a
teacher. She made many wonderful friends at Lighthouse, where she was
involved in drama, choir, drill team, and art. Academics were not her
strong suit but if it was the least bit artsy she was there. Beth was
fairly shy and reserved her first couple of years in high school but the
“party animal” was born her Senior year.
 Bethany graduated from Lighthouse Christian High School in May 2000. In
the fall of the same year she attended New Directions Hair Academy and
graduated with a cosmetology degree in 2001. After a couple of short
lived jobs in hair salons she decided doing hair was not for her.
Because Bethany and Katie had been home schooled they were not just
sisters, but best friends. After all, recess was just the two of them.
They could play hours on end and fight like cats and dogs but at the end
of the day all was forgiven. As a teenager Beth was able to stay out
later and go more places as long as she was with her older sister, so
the two of them had many of the same friends.
Katie has many fond childhood memories of Beth. Through the bonds of
sisterhood, they were known for whispering secrets to each other late
into the night, playing together for hours in their room with baby dolls
and Barbie’s, who always had to have numerous health problems. On
Saturday mornings, Beth would wake up first to watch cartoons, and then
as soon as Katie was up she would make her watch Alice in Wonderland
over and over. Katie’s most fond memory is getting to share in the birth
of Ava Raye. Watching her niece enter this world led her to a new and
deep appreciation for Bethany’s inner strength.
During Beth’s pregnancy, she and her mom developed an even closer bond.
They played Scrabble and Phase 10, got hooked on ER, Friends and
American Idol. During these months Beth and her mom learned a lot about
each other and came to a new understanding and appreciation of each
others lives. Beth and her mother were always close but the need for
maternal knowledge was more important than ever in preparing Bethany for
the road ahead.
 Bethany gave birth to her shining star, Ava Raye, in December 2003. Throughout
her pregnancy Bethany insisted she did not want to have natural child
birth, but on the night she went into labor the midwife kept telling us
over the phone that she was not ready to come in and to go take a warm
bath. That was all she wrote. Labor was full blown. Mom, Katie, and Beth
raced to Vanderbilt in the middle of the night—barely making it in time.
By the time she was admitted, begging for an epidural only to be told
“sorry too late”. So the least likely person in her childbirth class to
do it with out any drugs gave birth to Ava Raye “au natural”. Her
midwife said, “welcome to the sister hood!”
Ava Raye was the light of Bethany’s life. She was the motivation for
Bethany to attend college. Bethany wanted a career, not just a job, so
she could support Ava Raye. She and Ava were “snuggle buddies”. Ava
has inherited Beth’s flair for drama, a love of movies (Finding Nemo,
Monsters Inc., and Ice Age, just to name a few), and her knack for
silliness.
 The summer of 2004 Bethany enrolled at Nossi College of Art in
Goodlettesville, TN, where a love for photography was born. It was
thrilling to watch Bethany as she developed a passion for photography,
as well as learning to study and spending hours on her Mac tweaking her
photos. In June 2006, Nossi College of Art posthumously awarded Bethany
her Associates Degree in Digital Photography.
Our beloved Bethany struggled most of her life with depression which she
could hide from many of us but got the best of her at times and
unfortunately she medicated with drugs. Most of us thought she had
beaten her demons but we were sadly mistaken. On Feb 21st
drug use caused her blood pressure to rise rapidly causing her aorta to
burst. She was taken to Southern Hills Medical Center and life flighted
to Vanderbilt University Hospital. She arrived in a coma where doctor’s
tried to resuscitate her through surgery, but the damage to her heart
was too severe. She passed away Feb 22, 2006. |
