Biography

Virginia Shrauger Jones was born on January 22, 1921, the daughter of Cornelia Prentiss Shrauger and Harold Shrauger, Sr. of Atlantic, Iowa. Her grandfather was Dr. Henry J. Prentiss (1867-1931), head of the anatomy department at the University of Iowa; her grandmother was Lue Bradley Prentiss (1868-1922). Virginia Shrauger Jones had two siblings, a brother Harold Shrauger, Jr. (1916-2004) and a sister Cornelia Shrauger Day (1919-2004). Virginia Shrauger attended Atlantic High School and graduated from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) in 1942 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1943 the United States Marine Corps opened its doors to women and Virginia Shrauger joined. She rose to the rank of captain in three years before retiring. Virginia Shrauger married Joe Allen Jones, an attorney, in 1944. They had four children: Dennis (b. 1950), Prentiss (b. 1956), Cornelia (b. 1954), and Angela (b. 1946). In 1985 their West Virginia home flooded, and Virginia Jones pushed hard for community redevelopment with the Soil Conservation Service to return the community to its pre-flood condition; she received a letter from John D. Rockefeller praising her efforts. Virginia Jones was a prolific writer of letters. She also wrote one book about the women of her family, Strong Women, Four Generations: 1858-1982, published in 2007.

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