Faye Jones DiMassimo

MRS. FAYE JONES DIMASSIMO, age 99, of Little Rock died Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2013. Faye was born in Choctaw, Ark. on July 20, 1914. She was the daughter of Samuel Oather Jones and Cora Duncan Jones (both deceased) and was the oldest of five children: Dena Reynolds of Little Rock, Sgt. Orland (Buddy) Jones (deceased, Iwo Jima) of Clinton, Captain Samuel Oather Jones Jr., (deceased) of Charleston, S.C., and Stanley Jones (Catherine) of Texarkana, Ark. She received her BSE from Arkansas State Teacher's college in 1937, teaching English in small towns in Arkansas, producing weekly radio programs and being active in Community Theater throughout the state. In 1942, she moved to Boston where she continued to be involved in radio and theater, receiving her MA from Emerson College in 1945. She was Assistant Professor at Boston University and then moved to Connecticut where she taught drama at the University of Bridgeport, interned at the Westport County Playhouse, acted in and directed numerous local theatre productions and met and married her husband of 65 years. Faye returned to Little Rock in 1955 to be with her Arkansas family and to raise her own. She is survived by her husband, Nick DiMassimo; her children, Rick DiMassimo (Ann) and Lisa Griffith; her grandchildren, Walker (Hilary) and Rachel DiMassimo; and her great-granddaughters, Neveah Evans and Sophia and Savannah DiMassimo. She taught English at Forest Heights Junior High and was Professor of Speech Communications at UALR from 1968 until 1982. She is often remembered by those students whose lives she touched and whose aspirations she encouraged. She was an enthusiastic member of many organizations, including the National Society of Arts and Letters and served on the AETN Advisory Commission. Faye will be remembered not only for her personal and career accomplishments, her graciousness throughout her long battle with memory loss but especially for her beautiful smile which let us know that her loving and kind spirit was present through the moment she died. It was her wish for a funeral Mass to be held at Christ the King where she and her husband were members for over 35 years and then to be buried next to her mother at Huie Cemetery in Clinton, Ark. A time and date for the Mass is dependent on the health of her husband and has yet to be determined. In lieu of memorials we ask for you to give the older members of your family a hug today and tell them that they are loved. Online obituary at www.SmithFamilyCares.com.