Jason Dwight Jones

1937 - 2018

Jason Dwight Jones

Jason Dwight Jones died March 17, 2018 at his home in Lake Forest Park after a long battle with colon cancer. A celebration of life service is planned at Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Church Saturday May 5th at eleven o'clock in the morning with a reception to follow.

Jason was born September 15, 1937 in Yelm, Washington, the youngest of three children. His father, Thomas Jones, had emigrated from England as a boy and worked for Weyerhaeuser. His mother, Edna Jones, grew up in Spokane and was a 1925 graduate of the University of Washington.

Jason's father died suddenly in 1943 and the ensuing financial hardship compelled the family to eventually resettle in Marysville, Washington. Jason spent his formative years in Marysville, going to work at a very young age with his siblings in order to help support the family. He worked hard, earning money delivering papers, caring for livestock and picking strawberries. He graduated from Marysville High School in 1955. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 19 while working full time to support himself and pay for his college studies. Rather than be discouraged, he accepted his diagnosis stoically and worked diligently with his doctors from that point forward in his life to manage his condition as effectively as possible. He graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelors of science degree in mechanical engineering and began working at the University's Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL) while pursuing a masters degree in mechanical engineering. While working as an engineer he met Marilyn, the love of his life with whom he would spend the next six decades. The two were married on July 1, 1961 and made their home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, where they raised their three children and lived for the next 56 years. Life in the Jones household went on at a busy pace with numerous school extracurricular activities and sports, including soccer and basketball, as well as scouting and family canoe trips.

In 1978, after 18 years at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, Jason left to take a job in the aerospace industry with the Boeing Company. There he would spend the next 36 years of his busy professional life as an engineer. During those years he helped put his children through college, earned a lifetime achievement award from the Seattle Youth Soccer Association (SYSA) for his years of volunteer work in developing a game scheduling template for youth teams of all age groups in the Seattle metro area as well as his years spent coaching and refereeing youth soccer teams. He and Marilyn also managed to visit nearly two dozen countries from Iceland to Tunisia and be active grandparents, attending school plays, concerts, athletic events and graduations involving their six grandchildren. Throughout his life he remained a devoted fan of the Seattle Mariners and the UW Huskies.

Jason will be missed deeply by all who knew and loved him. He was an honest man of substance and integrity who overcame adversity in his early life to become an accomplished engineer, loving husband and devoted father and grandfather. He cultivated a strong work ethic his entire life and always provided well for his family, who were the center of his universe.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Marilyn, and his three children: Jeff Jones (Beth Anne) of Saint John, Jennifer Schmitz ( Mick) of Spokane and Michael Jones ( Vonna) of Lake Forest Park. He is also survived by his six grandchildren: Evan, Emily, Amanda, Thomas, Sarah and Vivienne. He was preceded in death by his brother, T.K. Jones, and sister, Anita Bannon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The American Diabetes Association.