Betty Jones “Grandma Betty” Mid 1920s ~ June 26, 2023

Betty Jones, lovingly known as “Grandma Betty,” passed from this life on the evening of Monday, June 26, 2023. The preceding day she collapsed while working with her livestock on her McCracken Mesa, Utah farm north of Bluff. She was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction where she underwent emergency surgery and later passed on.
Born in the mid-1920s in Blanding as Betty Nesbitt LongJohn, she was of the Folded Arm (Bit’ahnii) Clan and the Red Bottom (Tł’ááshchí’í) Clan. At a young age, she married Navajo rancher SP Jones and with him raised 12 children (11 between them and one child from his previous marriage).
Together they ran livestock in an area stretching from Hovenweep, Natural Bridges, and Bears Ears national monuments to Monument Valley, Montezuma Creek, Indian Creek, and McCracken Mesa where she spent the latter years of her life. Following the death of her husband she continued to work livestock with the help of children and grandchildren. 
She was a Navajo Medicine Woman and possessed extensive knowledge about the healing properties of native plants, many of which she gathered near the Bears Ears buttes.
She was a sheepwoman and for many years advocated for ranchers’ rights. Known for her honesty, outspokenness, and unassailable determination, Betty Jones gained notoriety as one of the leaders of the movement against the Bear’s Ears National Monument.
In 2017 she wrote a letter to President Trump opposing the designation of her ancestral homelands in the Bears Ears region as a national monument.
Her passion and persuasive voice earned her a place at the President’s side in December 2017 when, through presidential proclamation, he dramatically reduced the size of the national monument.
She was preceded in death by husband SP Jones (1997) and son Christopher Jones (2021). Her survivors include children: Annie Stone, Michael Jones, Anna Tom (Wallace Tom), Jessie Salazar (Lorris Salazar), Irene Jones, Johnny Jones, Susie Gray (Douglas Gray), Amelia James (Leland James), Dixon Jones (Anna Simpson), Stanford Jones (Yolanda Jones), 32 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. 
Her funeral was held on Saturday, July 1 and she was interred in the family cemetery on McCracken Mesa. Beloved by friends and admirers throughout southeastern Utah and elsewhere, Grandma Betty Jones will be forever remembered and greatly missed.