Stanley Jones

Stanley Earl Jones, 87, of Boulder, Colorado, passed away on May 22, 2023. Stan, as he was known, was born to Earl W. and Thelma J.M.(Stump) Jones, on December 3, 1935, in Keokuk, Iowa. Stan was a man with many talents and interests. He was especially attracted to art (at one point, aspiring to be a cartoonist), athletics, and academia. Although he decided not to pursue a career in art fairly early, he delighted in visits to art museums and became a collector of masks from cultures all over the world. Stan's chosen sport was tennis. He was a member of the tennis team while he worked on his B.A. and M.A. degrees in speech communication at the University of Iowa. Later, he became a tennis pro in Chicago, while earning his Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University. He was a long-time member of Harvest House Tennis Club in Boulder, where he played regularly and participated in many tournaments. He played tennis into his 80's. Stan made his professional mark in academia. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa, he was a professor at Queens College in New York before moving to Boulder, where he was a professor in the Communication Department of the University of Colorado from 1975-2000. Stan authored several articles and 3 books as a result of his research in communication: The Dynamics of Discussion: Communication in Small Groups, with Dean C. Barnlund and Franklyn S. Haiman, The Right Touch: Understanding and Using the Language of Physical Contact, and Seven Days to Sex Appeal, with Eva Margolies. His research specialty was nonverbal communication, and The Right Touch was the culmination of many years of rigorous research utilizing qualitative methodologies. It aimed to clarify the many meanings touch can communicate in our culture, common "taboos" of touch, how to use touch appropriately in the workplace, and how people use touch to influence others. Stan was a dedicated teacher, and loved to help students learn research methods and critical thinking through field studies. Many students particularly enjoyed an assignment which required them to document other peoples' responses when they deliberately broke social norms governing nonverbal communication. A highlight of Stan's life as a professor was the opportunity to serve as a faculty member on Semester at Sea. He also continued to teach after his retirement from C.U., serving on the faculty of the University of Kansas abroad program in Paderno del Grappa in Italy for several semesters. Stan loved to travel, and traveled widely, enjoying trips to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Egypt, South Africa, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos, as well as many other destinations. He regularly attended music, dance, and theater performances, and CU Buffs football games. Every year, he looked forward to attending many of Boulder's signature events: the Boulder Film Festival, the Conference on International Affairs, the Halloween Mall Crawl, and the Kinetic races were among his favorites. The only thing better was sharing all of these activities with his friends and family. Stan became a father during his marriage to Susan Baile. After many years of thinking children would not be part of his life, he felt especially blessed to be called Dad, and later, Granddad. He is survived by his sons, Christopher G. Jones (Tatiana) and Trevor B. Jones, and two grandsons, Jonathan Popova-Jones and Kieran Jones. And Boots, his cat.