Homecoming celebration held for Desi Jones, daughter of News Leader 9′s Dee Armstrong

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - Sunday, a homecoming celebration was held for 38-year-old Desi Anita Jones, daughter of News Leader 9 and WLTZ anchor Dee Armstrong.

Jones died on March 3 after an unexpected illness.

At the front of the North Highlands Church sanctuary sat a table of pictures of 38-year-old Desi Anita Jones, surrounded by dozens of family and friends gathering to celebrate her life.

Dee says the ceremony was to share the joy her daughter had. So, instead of calling it a homegoing, she’s calling it a homecoming.

“So, now that she’s gone, and as pastor sometimes says, there are moments when I feel okay about it because I was a good mother to her and we were good friends,” she said.

One by one, family and friends shared a few words.

“When you’ve known somebody your whole life and you take for granted that you can pick up a phone and reach out to somebody and when you can’t do that anymore it really hits you,” said Chris Robinson, family friend. “I spent a couple of hours with Anita a few weeks before she got sick, not realizing that was my last time I was going to see her.”

One thing many people shared Sunday was Desi’s gift of cooking. She owned and operated a food truck called The Spankin’ Spoon, gaining the reputation of an amazing chef in Columbus. Videos of when her food truck first took OFF played during the ceremony.

Dee says Jones and her brother lost their father when they were very young, often wondering who he was. To end the homecoming celebration, she sang a melody, telling her daughter and son about their father.

Dee says she will see her daughter again later in heaven.

All of us WTVM News Leader 9 continue to send our love to Dee. May Desi rest in peace.

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