Dates
Vernon Lee Jones went to be with his Lord and Savior on July 25th, 2016 at a local hospital with a loving family member at his side. He was 88 years old.
Vernon was born in Miles, Texas on March 21, 1928 to Ernest and Myrtle (Baumann) Jones, the first of two sons. Vern's younger brother, Alvin, was Vern's best friend - and for good reason: they grew up together in Miles and later both moved to San Angelo where they spent their entire adult lives. These two Jones brothers were inseparable. They fished and hunted together, worked on cars and motorcycles together, and they traded countless guns together. They knew how to enjoy life and so they did.
Vernon graduated from Miles High School and later spent four years in the U.S. Army as a machinist in a mobile Army unit in France. Vern’s two sons - Tom and Mike - were a lifelong joy to their Dad - just as Alvin's two kids - Arlieen and Alvin, Jr. were to Alvin. Some of the best times these two families remember were when they all got together - often including their friends - for a cookout or campout or some special occasion or just old fashioned porch visits where they hung around, drank coffee, told jokes and reminisced about yesteryear. Vernon Jones was indeed a devoted family man.
Vern later joined Parents without Partners as a way to meet new people. Soon, as fate would have it, he met the love of his life, Dolores (Schultz) Yonan. They were married June 7, 1970 and spent the next 46 years as a very happy couple who could always count on each other's tender love no matter what hardships or disappointments befell them.
They treasured the memories they shared and loved traveling together to their summer cottage on the Tippecanoe River in Winamac, Indiana where some of Dolores's relatives still live today.
Two especially difficult times for the family were the loss of Vern's beloved brother, Alvin, in 1993 and Dolores’s daughter, Bonny Yonan Engwer, in 1998. Despite these heartbreaking events, Vernon kept on keeping on living life and knowing that he had an adoring wife with whom he could share everything. Dolores often said she didn’t know what would have become of her life if she hadn’t met Vern and Vern would then always add that Dolores was the missing piece of his "life puzzle" that came together the very night they first met. It is an especially sweet love story that many people only dream about and some lucky ones get to have.
Vernon spent 33 years as a TV repairman for Sears Roebuck, driving his familiar van all over the Concho Valley repairing televisions during the late 1950's through the 1980's. When he finally retired, he spent the next 20+ years helping out at the San Friends of the Enviroment Recycling Center where he volunteered part-time and helped refurbish literally thousands of personal computers which were redistributed back into the community to those who couldn't afford to buy new ones. He often said this job was the single most meaningful use of his skills and interests that he had ever experienced.
Vern lived a full life, always keeping busy with hobbies that kept him from ever being bored. An amateur ham radio enthusiast and morse code expert, Vern's voice was heard all over the world as he would speak into his microphone such words as "CQ CQ CQ, CQ 10 meters - this is WA5MWA calling from San Angelo Texas - does anyone read me? Over." Besides ham radioing, his aptitude for photography produced hundreds of stunning photographs of everything from insects and birds, landscapes and flowers to people and pets.
Vern also had quite an ear for music and was able to play just about any tune he heard. He was raised on old-time music and could pick and grin with the best of them. Never limited to just one instrument, Vern could play the banjo and guitar, tickle the ivories on his accordion and piano and produce some very melodious tunes on his old harmonica. If you ever got the chance to hear him play, you remember just how much he and Mrs. Jones enjoyed music.
Vern had a special love for all of God's creation and he and Dolores have 4 small dogs which are their precious little babies: Teeny, Whitey, Ginger, and Foxy. Those beloved little stinkers - those "toots" as Dolores is fond of saying. Vern dearly loved each of these companions, and Foxy held a uniquely special place in his heart.
Vern's positive and confident outlook on life defined him. He was a thinker who always imagined new ways to do things, then tinkered with them until he produced something tangible and imaginative - often even artistic. He always felt the best mousetrap is the one yet to be invented. It was this kind of approach to life that was central to Vern's adorable personality.
For many who knew him, and especially his family, Vernon Lee Jones was a character they will always cherish for his soft-spoken acts of kindness, his passionate curiosity about life, his courage, his ability to listen, his special ways of offering gentle encouragement to others and his patient determination to surround himself and his family with simple sources of joy.
May Vernon now enjoy the eternal peace he so well deserves. We will dearly miss this amazing. handsome and talented man with those strong steady hands, sparkling eyes and that warm smile. He is truly now a permanent part of all who loved him.
Survivors include wife, Dolores Jones of San Angelo, TX, sons, Mike (Greta) Jones of Jonestown, TX, Tommy Lee (Alisha) Jones of Joplin, MO, grandchildren; Jessica Lynn Jones, Joy (Leonard) Haywood, Jeremiah Jones, Janie (Zech) Wheeler, Michelle Zamora, and 9 great-grandchildren, nephew Alvin (Donna) Jones Jr and niece, Arlieen (Roger) Bell; step-daughter, Teri (Ray) Beasley of Oviedo, FL, step-daughter, Nancy Norwood of San Angelo, step-daughter, Rebekah (Peter Kellman) Yonan of North Berwick, ME, step-son, Michael (Bertie) Yonan of Ballinger, TX, step-daughter, Julia (Franz Mantini) Yonan of Tampa, FL, step-son, Benjamin Yonan of Washington, DC, 4 step-grandsons.
Visitation will be held 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Friday, July 29, 2016, at Robert Massie Funeral Home.
Memorial services will be held, 11:30 am on Saturday, July 30, 2016at the St. Paul Presbyterian Church, San Angelo, Texas, with Rev. Tim Davenport-Herbst, officiating.