Ragene Hoyt

Ragene Elizabeth Jones Hoyt, 91, peacefully passed away on May 27th in Connecticut.

Ragene (Jean, Jeannie, Thumper) was born to Thomas and Effie Jones, in Nashville, Tennessee as the youngest child and only daughter with six older brothers who all predeceased her.

Jean met her future husband and life partner, Bob Hoyt, while working as a counter waitress in Nashville. She served him a ‘short’ coke, and they spent the next 70 years together until Bob's passing in 2018.

After marrying in April 1952, Jean and Bob had an exciting life living and traveling together from the Army post in Kentucky to western Kansas growing wheat and raising cattle (where the bonafide city girl was introduced to rattlesnakes, tornadoes, snow drifts and dust bowl winds). Later they lived in Silver Springs, Maryland for a short time while Bob was in the CIA but returned to Kansas to settle in Lawrence where they spent twenty plus years until their retirement.

During this time, Jean had many occupations ranging from small town nurse to accountant to managing a small publishing company that Bob and a University of Kansas co-worker started.

They also had two daughters along the way, Vicki and Michelle.

Jean retired with Bob to Crossville, Tennessee with Jean decorating inside and outside the house for all the holidays and pursuing her lifetime love of gardening, including becoming a Master Gardener.

After Bob's passing, she divided her time between Vicki and husband Don's house at the Bars family farm in Connecticut and Michelle and husband Devon's house in Las Vegas, along with her and Bob's beloved canine companion, Carli, who passed away earlier in 2025.

She will always be remembered for her decorating, gardening and landscaping skills with the beautiful back patio landscaping in Connecticut and her rose bush garden in Las Vegas as living testaments to a life well lived by what everyone called an amazing and gracious Southern lady.

She will be greatly missed by the family and friends she leaves behind across the country.