Gene M. Jones

1939 - 2021

Gene M. Jones, 82, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, at his home in La Porte, Indiana.

Gene was born on Jan. 26, 1939, on the family farm on Dover Hill Road in Loogootee, Indiana, to Paul H. and Catherine L. (Boner) Jones. His birth certificate said he was born on Jan. 25, but his mom insisted the doctor made a mistake and that he was really born on Jan. 26. He enjoyed having two birthdays.

Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Rusk, Indiana, in Lost River Township where his sister, Sharon, was born in 1943. He was the sixth generation of Joneses from Lost River Township.

He graduated from Loogootee High School in 1957. He lettered in basketball and baseball, and played cornet in the band. He was an avid outdoorsman, hunter and woodsman; he especially enjoyed squirrel, rabbit (mostly with his beloved beagles) and coon hunting. He and his dad fished and ran trot lines on the East Fork. He was a fervent forager, always looking for spring morel mushrooms and summer raspberries and blackberries.

In 1961, he graduated from Indiana University with a BA degree. Combining his last year of college with his first year of law school, he received his LLB in 1963. That same year, he passed the Indiana State Bar Exam and was licensed to practice law.

He began his legal career in the United States Air Force, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah, where he was a member of the Judge Advocate General Corps. He was honorably discharged in 1966 as a Captain.

In 1966, he joined the La Porte, Indiana, law firm of Newby Lewis and Kaminski, which later became Newby Lewis Kaminski and Jones in the early 1970s. He practiced there for 43 years retiring in 2009.

Professionally, he was a member of all local bar associations. He was a member of the American Bar Association, the International Association of Defense Counsel and the American College of Trial Lawyers, in which he was inducted in London, England, in 1985. He was a well-respected trial lawyer.

He was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, the Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the La Porte American Legion. A fan of the game of golf, he was a member at Beechwood Golf Course and Sand Creek Country Club. He also enjoyed the St. Louis Cardinals, making many trips to Wrigley Field to watch the Cards beat the Cubs.

In 1997, he married Cynthia Marie Ann Dolezal, who survives.

Also surviving are his sons, David P. (Kris) Jones of Union Mills, Indiana, Daniel G. (Stefany) Jones of Poulsbo, Washington, and Eric J. (Kelli) Jones of Evergreen, Colorado; and grandchildren, Brooke, Eleanor, Ian, Anna, Jake and Jaelee.

He was preceded in death by his father, Paul H. Jones, on Dec. 15, 1993; mother, Catherine L. Jones, on Jan. 7, 2000; and sister, Sharon Kay Bohlinger, on Sept. 26, 2014.

Gene loved the land and the outdoors. He built and lived in a log cabin (without electricity) in the early 1980s. He planted thousands of trees, always had a vegetable garden (a particular fan of potatoes, turnips and tomatoes), and fashioned his own game preserve in La Porte County where he loved to deer hunt with his three sons.

A ceremony of life will be held at a later date to honor his belief that life on earth is an opportunity to earn eternal life.

A private burial has occurred.