Bobbie Griggs Jones

Dec. 31, 1930 to July 17, 2026

According to her mother, Bobbie Griggs was born four hours before midnight on New Year’s Eve 1930, in the Kollock community east of Cheraw, S.C., in a house her parents built from the ruins of an abandoned church.

Her doctor, however, must have gone out afterwards to celebrate the New Year, as he recorded her birth the next day – Jan. 1, 1931 – on her birth certificate. This discrepancy would wreak havoc for the first 85 of her life whenever she had to complete government or medical forms, as she felt her mother knew better than anyone else when she arrived in this world. To make matters worse, she would make every medical receptionist she ever visited sit through hearing the whole story over and over again.

Bobbie grew up with a protective older brother, Ted, whom she loved dearly and fought with often. Working at the family’s gas station, rental cabins, and country store, she learned to count change unfailingly—a skill that would prove invaluable later during her time as a teller at First Citizens Bank. She also worked as a receptionist at the Cheraw Chronicle.

A graduate of Cheraw High School, Bobbie briefly attended Lander College before returning home to help her mother, Linnell Hall Griggs, care for her ailing father, Sanford Barry “Sam” Griggs. She took a job in the ladies’ department at B.C. Moore & Sons, where she re-established a casual high school acquaintance with Hassie Jones, the store’s assistant manager. Hassie would later recall watching her from afar as she bowled in the basement alley of the old Moore’s building at the east end of Market Street where she was a local champion of the lanes, once bowling a near-perfect game. Bobbie, on the other hand, recalled that he snored loudly during high school study hall.

They were married on Aug. 22, 1954. Bobbie worked as an administrative assistant to attorney and Chesterfield magistrate T. Belk Ingram before welcoming her daughter, Sandra Leigh, in 1958, and son, Kenneth Barry, in 1962. From then on, her life became a whirlwind of attending Little League games, serving as a homeroom mother, and leading a Girl Scout troop, among countless other contributions to her children's lives.

For decades, Bobbie was the undisputed matriarch of the Fellowship Hall kitchen at Cheraw’s First Presbyterian Church, managing more Family Night Suppers than one could count. She was active in every aspect of church life, leading the Women’s Circle, organizing summer Bible Schools, and singing in the choir.

Bobbie passed away July 17, 2026, at the age of 95, at the Presbyterian Communities of Florence, S.C. In addition to her children, she leaves behind her cherished grandson, Taylor Jones (fiance Jordan Dunlap); her daughter-in-law, Eileen Jones; and her son-in-law, Chris Handal. She was predeceased by her parents, her brother, and her husband.

A graveside funeral service will be held at 12:00 noon on Monday, July 20, 2026, at St. David’s Cemetery in Cheraw, SC.

The family will receive friends from 10:30 until 11:30 a.m. on Monday, July 20, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church in Cheraw, SC.

The family has asked that due to the heat, everyone in attendance dress comfortably.

Memorials may be made to the Thornwell Home for Children, www.thornwell.org/give; or to the Chesterfield County Habitat for Humanity, 8 Chesterfield Hwy., Cheraw, SC 29520.

Kiser Funeral Home has been entrusted to serve the Jones family in their time of grief.

Online condolences may be made at www.kiserfuneralhome.com.