Willie Mabel Love's Obituary
Willie Mable Jones was born on December 27, 1938 in Shellmound, Mississippi to Robbie and Wilson Jones. The fourth of nine children, she began her education at four years old at St. Paul Elementary and her Christian life at St. Paul Church. At twelve years old, she left home to attend Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis Indiana, where she graduated at fifteen. She returned to Mississippi where she matriculated at Mississippi Valley State University, graduating with a Bachelors of Chemistry at eighteen.
Willie taught chemistry for a number of years in Mississippi, before going back to school to earn her Master’s Degree from the University of Indiana. She then relocated to Oakland, CA and began her second career at the Alameda County Social Services Agency.
Willie’s career at the Alameda County Social Services began in what was then called the Welfare Department as a social worker. She eventually was promoted to a Section Supervisor. While a social worker, her supervisor Lillian Love introduced her to son, William Love. Willie and William married in September 1967 at the Church by the Side of the Road. They had three children Ronald (deceased), Michelle, and Barbara.
While she was a Section Supervisor, she wanted a new challenge and she had always wanted to go to Law School. With her husband’s encouragement, she went to John F. Kennedy Law School - while working full time. In law school, Willie participated in Law Review and was valedictorian of her class.
Willie began her career at the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office in 1983. She was proud to work at the Public Defender’s Office, often explaining to her children there could be no justice without Public Defenders. While with the Public Defender’s Office, she worked in several offices and handled a variety of cases. Willie retired in December 2000. For a brief time following her retirement, she taught law at John F. Kennedy Law School, before deciding her retirement could best be spent with her family, her sisters, the gym, and anything she wanted to do…
Willie is preceded in death by her husband (William), her son (Ronald), her parents (Robbie and Wilson), her brother (Curtis), and her sister (Malinda). She leaves to mourn her daughters Michelle and Barbara, her closest nephew William Eskridge Jr. (Joyce), niece Robin Love (Amina Finley Love), her dear sisters (Dora, Louise, Peaches, and Ann), brothers (Wilson and Robert), adopted granddaughter Layla Juarez (Becky and Sergio Juarez), a host of nieces, nephews, sister/brother in laws, and dear friends - too many to mention by name.
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