“I spent a lot of years on one prairie or another in Eastern Montana ... I call myself, 'a child of the prairie.' On those prairies the wind blows free and winters are frigid." — Agnes Virginia (Lalonde) Jones
Agnes was born July 1, 1919, in Bainville, Mont., to Albert Edward and Ellen Irene Lalonde. Her younger years were spent traveling each spring on road construction jobs on the Montana Hi-Line. It was a very harsh existence living in tents. On the road she earned the nickname "Aggie the Lamplighter" as she lit the night construction sites with the kerosene lamps. Then as a teenager the family moved to Sidney. She attended Sidney High School beginning in 1934, played the saxophone in the band, and graduated in 1937. She attended college at Saint Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., where she met and made lifelong friends.
Agnes’ siblings were Julian John "Jay" LaLonde (Synove Bratberg), Hubert Edward LaLonde (Dorthe Wilson), and Eugene Albert Lalonde (Beverly Perrault).
She met and married O’Neil Hazlett Jones in Sidney where they resided. Agnes directed the choir at St. Philomena’s parish, was involved in the Altar Society and raised five children.
After living in Sidney, they moved to Bigfork in 1964 and purchased a home on Flathead Lake. In 1965, they opened Flathead Lake Galleries. Later they purchased Flathead Lake Lookout Museum from the Thain White family. Agnes volunteered at the Bigfork Village Square and was a supporter of the arts and education in the Bigfork community. She was an avid and talented quilter and an amateur watercolor artist. She spent her last years at the Lakeview Care Center.
Agnes is survived by her five children, Irene Ann (Leroy Byrd), Dennis O’Neil, Patrick John, Timothy Matthew (Kim Lane), and Terrance Mark Edward (Sheila Hauger) Jones. Agnes had 17 grandchildren, Angela Johnstone (Ian), O’Neill Byrd (Marcy), Alicia Sullivan, Stephan Byrd (Amy), Ann Marie Byrd (Shawn Nichols), Dan Byrd, Aimee Plese (Victor), John Byrd (Angie), Nick Byrd (Molly Chapa), Eric Byrd (Tiffany), Jordan and Maura Jones, Nicole Jones-Vannata (Jordan), Todd and Lane Jones, and Andrew and Katelynn Jones; and 14 great-grandchildren, Chancellor and Olivia Johnstone, Hudson and Ravenna Byrd, Hannah and Delaney Byrd-Nichols, Max, Quentin, Mason, Bridget and Caden Plese, Maddie and Samuel Byrd, and Aiden Ava Byrd.
Agnes was preceded in death by her husband, O’Neill in 2001; her daughter-in-law, Kathleen Jordan Jones, in 2010; grandchildren, Anetta Byrd in 1973, and Andrew Byrd in 1974; and great-grandchild, Spencer Johnstone, in 1992.
Funeral arrangements are by Buffalo Hill Funeral Home.
Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 1, at St. John Paul II Catholic Church in Bigfork. A reception will follow immediately after the funeral Mass.
Memorial donations may be sent to Bigfork Food Bank, 7545 Montana 35, Bigfork, MT 59911; 406-837-2297.