LeahMarie Jones

A multiple-time cancer survivor, LeahMarie succumbed to complications from COVID-19 infection suddenly on Tuesday, May 18th. She is predeceased by her father, Harvey Wideman, her Grandfather LeahMarie Jones, 31 of West Hempstead, NY was called to Heaven on Tuesday May 18th.  LeahMarie was born in Buffalo, NY on February 17, 1990 to Linda Renee (Caver) Thompson and the late Harvey Wideman.  In May 2015, she married Sean Jones of St. Louis, Missouri and in May of 2019, the couple welcomed a beautiful daughter Amaya Grace Jones into the world.

As a child, LeahMarie loved to dance and was a member of both the Center Stage Dance company for 5 years and The Buffalo Inner City Ballet for 2 years under the instruction of Marvin Askew.  LeahMarie graduated from Hutch Tech High School in 2004 where she participated in ROTC and other various clubs and extracurricular activities. Also, while in high school, she participated in the Upward Bound college preparatory program on the campus of the University of Buffalo. After high school, she attended Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA from 2008-2010 where she double – majored in linguistics and dance, was a student ambassador and part of the Black Student Union.  In 2010, she moved to Belize for a chance to deepen her language studies while doing community-based charity work.   In 2011, she moved back to Buffalo to resume college studies at Buffalo State College.

Wherever she went, she carried her hometown pride with her, and you could hear her cheering for the Buffalo Bills miles away! She adored summers in Buffalo from brunches on patios, sitting at the Marina watching the boats go by, or enjoying her favorite pastime of attending the Taste of Buffalo! She was a lover of books, food, theatre, dance, art, music, people and most of all, God.  For the past several years, LeahMarie proved to be a wonderful wife and doting mother of Amaya and almost daily posted new pictures and videos of the progress of her beautiful little girl so that her family and friends all over the country could enjoy and imagine hugging her beautiful little girl. She was also the mom to Rocco, her cocker spaniel. Prior to a recent relocation to West Hempstead, NY, she and Sean were active members of First Baptist Church (Pastor Josh P. Kirvin, Melvin L. Caver, Sr., her Grandmother Naomi O. Caver, and her Uncle Melvin L. Caver, Jr.  She is survived by her husband, Sean Jones, her daughter Amaya Grace Jones, her mother Linda (Caver) Thompson and stepfather, John Thompson; her siblings Monica Wideman of Buffalo and Staff Sergeant David Ruxton White (USAF) of North Carolina; and her niece Naomi White.  She also leaves behind 14 loving cousins, her aunts Muriel Chapman (Gene) of Charlotte, NC, and Judith Stewart (Ron) of Dallas, TX and uncles Keith Caver (Cassandra) of Denver, NC and Tim Caver (Kia) of Houston, TX.  In addition to family, LeahMarie will be missed by a host of loving friends including Amaya’s godparents Curtis and Halanna Armstrong.   

Leah was beautiful, charming, intelligent, outspoken, and most of all brave. She came to be, by far, everyone’s “favorite cousin”, because she was one of the girls and one of the guys at the same time! She inspired all of us by being able to always put a smile on everyone’s face, despite all she had to endure. She made every joke funnier, every embrace warmer, every moment brighter, and every goodbye harder. She could walk into a room with 5 strangers, and come out with 5 new best friends. 

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