Donald A. Jones

Donald A. Jones, age 94, of Prospect St., Troy, PA, passed away Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the Guthrie Palliative Care Unit at Sayre Guthrie Hospital. 

Don was born in Scranton, PA, on September 19, 1926, the son of the late Austin and Mildred (Stevens) Jones. At age 9, he went to work for a church organ repairman, earning 25 cents an hour.  He worked four hours a night and eight hours on Saturdays.  Don learned how to operate woodworking machines and loved it. He was 16 when he quit school in 1943 and went to work for Eureka/Paper Magic, a Scranton printing company.

When Don was 17, he joined the Navy. His boot camp was the former Sampson Naval Base near Geneva, NY. The Navy made him a signalman and put him in a landing craft, LST-553. He made five landings in the Pacific, including the invasion of Peleliu in the Palau Islands.

He won the war, went back to work with Eureka, and married the love of his life, Jean, on February, 21, 1948, in Scranton, PA.  At Eureka, Don climbed the ladder swiftly.  He started as a floor boy, then became a foreman, a general foreman six months later, and a plant manager a year after that.  In the midst of this, the Navy called Don back into service, and he fought in the Korean War on LST-603 from 1951 to 1953.

Don always regretted never graduating high school. While working as a manager, he earned his high school diploma in 1966 from ICS.

Eureka opened a second factory in Troy, PA, and made Don the plant manager. He would later become general manager of four Eureka plants and retired in 1983 as Eureka senior vice president and a partner in the Troy operation.

Achievers like Don are called to public service and he answered by serving a dozen years as Mayor of Troy, President of the Troy Chamber of Commerce for three years, and two years as Vice President of the Bradford County Industrial Management Club. His resume also includes four years as board chairman for Troy Community Hospital and three years on the board of Guthrie Healthcare Systems in Sayre, PA.

In Don’s spare time, he enjoyed wood crafting in his workshop. He became very skilled on a scroll saw and created thousands of intricately crafted wooden works of art. In 2007, he was a featured artist in Creative Woodwork and Crafts magazine.

Don was predeceased by his best friend and wife, Jean (Compton) Jones; sister, Doris (Jones) Titus; daughter-in-law, Sandy (Honig) Jones; and son-in-law, Carl Hays. He is survived by his children, Donald (Dawn) Jones and Debi Hays; grandchildren, Dylan (Jen) Hays and their children, Karleigh, Norah, and Jayne; Beau (Jamie) Hays and their children Micah and Weston; Bryan (Amanda) Jones and their children, Ava and Logan; Carly Hays (Joe McInnis) and their children Presley and Brody; Justin Jones, Mike (Beth) Hobbs and their son, Tyler; brother-in-law, Harold Compton; several nieces and a nephew; and many friends, especially his caring neighbors, Michael and Alison Polly and Jim Blackwell.

Per Don’s request, there will be no calling hours. A private funeral service will take place at the convenience of the family. The Gerald W. Vickery, Jr. Funeral & Cremation Services, Inc. 1093 West Main Street, Troy, PA has been entrusted with the arrangements.

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