Joe Don Jones

JOE D. JONES Joe Don Jones of Longview died Monday, April 2, 2012 at a local hospital. He was 85; a loving husband and devoted family man; and a retired chemical operator for Texas Eastman Company of Longview. Visitation will be Wednesday, April 4 at Rader Funeral Home in Longview from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held at noon Thursday, April 5, at Peatown Christian Church, FM 2011, near Elderville. Burial will follow in Peatown Cemetery. Reverend Jim Lewis will officiate. He was born June 20, 1926 in Bristow, Oklahoma to Grace Mount McIntosh and Ellis Sidney Jones and was the stepson of Robert Lawrence "Dock" McIntosh of Kilgore. Mr. Jones moved to Kilgore at an early age and attended Kilgore High School. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Marines and served in the liberation of Guam in the south Pacific during World War II. He was honorably discharged from service in 1946 and worked at various jobs, including Western Electric, until his hiring at Texas Eastman in 1955. He retired in 1986. He married Virginia Ann Leak on Nov. 29, 1947 and they had two sons: Joe Mack Jones and James Timothy Jones; and a daughter: Melanie Ann McKnight and son-in-law Terry McKnight – all of Longview. He is survived by his wife; all three children; grandson Daniel Joe McKnight; an aunt, Norma Smith of Narrows, Va.; plus numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Jones was preceded in death by his parents, step-father and a sister, Patricia Jeanne Jones. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, water skiing, motorboating and trot-line fishing. In the early 1960s, he co-founded the East Texas Aquanauts, one of the first SCUBA clubs in Longview. Jones competed in local spearfishing contests and diving at Cozumel and the Gulf of Mexico. He managed a vineyard, tomato farm and catawba orchard and kept a garden through 2011. He was an active member of the Longview YMCA Indian Guides program in the 1950s, the PTA and supported a local Boy Scout troop. In later years, he went on archeological expeditions to Israel. In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to donate to the Salvation Army, 519 E. Cotton St., Longview, TX 75601 or the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 906, Longview, TX 75606.

Joe Don Jones

June 20, 1926 - April 2, 2012