“Omer Jones, 56, proprietor of the XYZ Negro Club at 141 South Aurora Street and a veteran chef at Sage College, dropped dead at his home, 517 Hudson Street shortly after 8 o’clock yesterday morning. Death was attributed to a heart attack.
Mr. Jones had planned to spend the day in Syracuse and attend the Independence Day horse races at the state fairgrounds and was preparing to leave when he was stricken. He had just completed his breakfast.
Mr. Jones was born in 1878 at Kokomo, Ind. He came to Ithaca about 30 years ago and married Hattie Johnson. The couple remained in Ithaca, Mr. Jones becoming employed as a chef at Sage College, which position he held for the past 20 years.
About 12 years ago he became interested in the organization of the XYZ Club for members of his own race and it had been operated by him ever since. He was a member of the Colored Knights of Pythias and the Masonic Lodges.
Besides his widow, he is survived by five sisters, Mrs. Della Wilson of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Clima Jackson of Chicago, Ill.; Mrs. Helen Fairbanks of Los Angeles, Calif.; Mrs. Lydia Stillgus of Detroit, Mich.; and Mrs. Daisy Simpson of St. Paul, Minn.; two brothers, Arthur Jones of Columbus, Ohio, and Noel Jones of Ithaca.
Funeral services will be held at 2:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon, July 7, at the family home on Hudson Street. The Rev. H.J. Johnson, pastor of the A.M.E. Zion Church of Watertown, will officiate. Interment will be in Lake View Cemetery.”
“Heart Attack is Fatal to Omer Jones,” Ithaca Journal, July 5, 1934, 3.