Victoria Ellen Jones Fallin, or Vici as most knew her, went to her heavenly home on December 14, 2024.  Vici was born on December 10, 1942, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Richard and Peggy Jones. After a move to Arizona and the birth of her beloved baby brother, Drew, the Jones family settled in Ruston, Louisiana, and Vici was enrolled in second grade at Eastland Elementary School and assigned to Mrs. Sunshine’s class where she was befriended by a little black-haired boy named Jimmy Ray Fallin. Neither of them realized it at the time, but that friendship later led to a marriage of 56 years, three daughters, three sons-in-law, seven grandchildren, a grandson-in-law, a granddaughter-in-law, four great-granddaughters and one great-grandson on the way.

A graduate of Ruston High School, Vici attended Louisiana Tech University where she earned her degree in interior design. Upon graduation, Jimmy and Vici married on August 21, 1965, at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Ruston, Louisiana. They then moved to Dallas, Texas, where their daughters Elizabeth and Laura were born. The family of four then moved to Plano, Texas, where they welcomed their baby daughter Carey. And they eventually moved to Lubbock, Texas. But no matter how geographically removed she was, Ruston was always in her heart and what she considered home. Lots of trips were made across I-20 in a forest-green followed by a yellow station wagon (with wood panel of course) to come “home” to visit for most holidays and spans of time in the summer. The family eventually moved to Ruston as co-owners of Ruston Lumber and Supply for about 10 years and then had the opportunity to go back to Texas, moving to Georgetown and living there for 16 years before settling back in Ruston to retire, and replanting those Ruston roots. But no matter where she lived, she managed to gather up lifelong friends.

Vici loved her Lord and His words, but of all scripture verses, this would have to be the one that she most assuredly lived out daily.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8-9

This is what we all hope to do a little bit better when we reflect on her in our hearts or share stories of her with our mouths and ears and with our eyes when we look at God’s creation and the creations of those He created in a way that she would have seen it and then use our whole selves to do something noble, beautiful, pure, lovely, true, excellent, and praiseworthy…just as she did. As one of her cousin’s noted, she was the family historian, the Polyanna, cheerleader, friend, artist, mother, sister, cousin, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the list goes on.

Trying to describe her in words is like trying to capture and contain a brush of watercolor paint in one specific place on the paper. It cannot be done because it cannot be confined to one boundary on that paper. That was her. She was rather like a quilt, the first thing many of us connect to her. She was made up of so many God-given talents and interests and passions of all sorts, just like the myriads of fabrics she sewed into one quilt. She loved needlepoint, and she painted liturgical canvases for many churches that translated the words of scripture into beautiful visual masterpieces that sing praises to our Creator God and His Savior Son. She was also selected to paint the needlepoint canvases for the chair backs at the Texas Wildflower Center where she captured His pure and lovely nature and allowed them bloom perennially.

A member of the Piney Hills Quilt Guild, PEO, the Fabric Shoppe’s Creative Club, The Garden Study Club, her beloved Stitch group, and the altar guilds of every Episcopal church in every place she has lived, Vici has certainly bloomed where she has planted. Vici’s biggest gifts from God were her heart and her art, and she leaves legacies of both behind as she left the world a much more beautiful place with her compassion and her talents.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Jimmy Ray Fallin; her parents, Richard and Peggy Jones; and her brother, Drew Jones.

She is survived by daughter Elizabeth Fallin Manning and husband Rodney of Ruston, LA; daughter Laura Fallin Ferguson and husband, Jeff of Austin, TX; daughter Carey Fallin Hurst and husband Jay of Dallas, TX; grandchildren Matthew Manning and wife Chastin, Mary-Margaret Manning Arnold and husband Nick, Henry, Caty, and Jack Ferguson, and Molly Cate and Ellen Hurst; and great-grandchildren Camilla Kate Manning, Megan Kate Arnold, Lauren Drew Arnold, and Olivia Grace Arnold.

Services will be held Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer with visitation beginning at 10:00 A.M. and the service to follow at 11:00 A.M. under the care and direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Homes in Ruston. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that memorials be made to The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer of Ruston or to The Well of North Louisiana.

The family would like to thank the medical staff of the following facilities: Ruston Regional Specialty Hospital, Bienville Medical Center, Dr. Benson Grigsby, Dr. Michael Languilli, Dr. Shane Barton and Mike Angelo, PA, and Dr. Guillermo Padilla for their tireless and compassionate care. Our heartfelt thanks also extends to Muriel Hayes, Sandra Hardyway and the amazing staff at The Terrace,the wonderful medical staff of Best Home Health, and to Lacy Youngblood and the passionate nurses and staff of Premier Hospice for their constant care. We also want to express our sincere thanks to Mrs. Ammi Schillinger who shepherded us through this journey to heaven. Finally the family wants to extend their deepest gratitude to Denise Hadnot and Lisa Burks for their extraordinary loving emotional and physical support.

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