Toni Jones, 78, passed away on Thursday, August 18, 2022, in Camarillo, California, following a lengthy illness. She was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 4, 1943, to Kenneth E. Jones and Avril L. Tatum (Jones).
As a child, she moved to Oxnard and Indio California with her family before returning to the Los Angeles area. She attended Parnell Preparatory School for Girls and Inglewood High School, graduating in 1962. After high school, she attended El Camino Junior College. Toni also attended cosmetology school in Los Angeles. In the 1990’s she attended Oxnard College, studying for a drug and alcohol counseling certificate. She spent the early 1960’s in Arizona. Later she returned to Los Angeles where she worked as a hairdresser for the next 10 years. As a lifelong animal lover, Toni started a brief career in dog grooming as well. In 1986 the family moved to Camarillo, where Toni enjoyed a hobby of building miniature houses and joined a miniature homes organization, spending hours learning how to build and display her creations.
In 1992, a loosely woven community came together to envision gay and lesbian services for the community. Toni was a co-founder, President, Vice-President, Board Member and Volunteer-Coordinator of newly formed non-profit, Life Enhancement and Addiction Recovery Network (L.E.A.R.N.). L.E.A.R.N. opened and operated the Gay and Lesbian Community Center (GLCC) in Ventura. Toni Committed a year of time and energy coordinating community meetings; consolidating the information, into the creation of the Ventura County Grant to create the Guide for Mocktails (sic); which continued to be a program grant source. It was funded through Ventura County Behavioral Health - Environmental Prevention and Education; elevating the GLCC, into a recognizable, Non-Profit Social Service Agency.
In 1996 the Youth Empowerment Program was created; again, Toni was an integral part of the creation, through weekly meetings with feed-back of ideas, inspiration, encouragement, advice and assistance which allowed a new volunteer to consider the idea, of creating a “Youth Group”
The Ventura County Rainbow Alliance (VCRA) was created in 1999, when the client services of the local AIDS Services non-profit agency were in jeopardy of being lost; the community rallied the agency to expand services, from a store-front information/referral meeting location, into a Client Services Agency. Toni participated as board member with VCRA for 2 years.
As a lifelong crafter, in addition to building miniature houses, Toni enjoyed spending many hours doing crochet, needlepoint, knitting, macramé, jewelry making, and art. She studied watercolor painting with noted local artists Patty Van Dyke of Ojai and Christine Leong of Camarillo. She created winning art pieces in the Camarillo art community. Toni loved to travel. As a young girl, she enjoyed travel with her Grandmother and family to Israel, Greece and Europe. Later in life she traveled throughout the United States.
Toni was an active member of the Center for Spiritual Living-Camarillo from 2002-2019 and served on their board of trustees for 2 years. Toni was also a member of Southern California Women for Understanding (SCWU) and Women’s Information Network (WIN). It was during this time, in 2003, that Toni met her spouse Vickie.
Toni is survived by her loving partner, Victoria (Vickie) Hartley of Camarillo; her brother Richard Jones of Spokane, Washington; stepsister Barbara Jones of Aloha, Oregon; nephew Joshua Jones of Bennett, Colorado; niece Jesica Jones-Aasness of Los Angeles, California. She also leaves behind many, many friends. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Vickie Hartley would like to extend her appreciation to the nursing staff for the loving care Toni received at the St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo.
Toni did not wish to have a funeral service. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date under the direction of Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Ventura, her ashes will be scattered at sea. Donations can be made in Toni’s name to the Humane Society of Ventura County - https://www.hsvc.org/, or the Gay and Lesbian Diversity Collective of Ventura County - https://www.diversitycollectivevc.org/.
Toni will be extremely missed by Vickie and her many family and friends.