Ronald Frank "Bud" Jones

1933 - 2025

LaConner - Ronald Frank "Bud" Jones of La Conner, WA died Nov. 14th, 2025, after a long and accomplished life.

The grandson of Welsh, Scottish, and Italian immigrants, he was named for the small mining town near Cle-Elum where his grandparents and parents had lived and worked. Born in Seattle in January 1933 to William and Margaret (Merlet) Jones, he grew up on Beacon Hill during the Great Depression and watched as his older brother, Bill, went overseas during WW2 to hunt U-Boats in Navy flying boats.

Bill returned after the war and Ron started working for him at his company, Veteran's Aviation Service in Renton. Ron took to flying as a young teen and soloed on his 16th birthday in 1949, making him then, and presumably still, one of the youngest people to obtain a US Pilot's license.

Ron enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 during the Korean War and deployed to Sembach Air Base in Germany as part of the 12th Air Force 66th Tactical Recon Squadron. He worked and flew across Europe in B-26 reconnaissance planes until Honorably Discharged in 1956.

Ron graduated from the University of Washington in 1962 with an Architecture degree and displayed a talent for sketching and painting watercolors. Also in 1962, "It Happened at the World's Fair", as the Elvis movie later declared, when Ron met his future wife, Bodil, while she worked in the Danish government's Fair pavilion. Married in July 1963, their first son was born a year later while living in Denmark.

They returned to Seattle, where he continued his architect career and was soon a winner of the A.I.A./ Seattle Times Home of the Month awards (1967 & 1972). Their second son was born in 1968 and the family moved to Anchorage in 1973, where Ron worked during the Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction boom. Returning to Seattle in 1977, Ron became a leading member of the local Civil Air Patrol, flying his Cessna on CAP missions. In 1990 Ron was hired by Princess Cruises & Tours to develop their Alaskan tour properties, ultimately designing or re-developing almost all the Princess hotels in Alaska.

Ron moved to La Conner in 2001 and bought a boat. He and his nephew, Wayne, enjoyed lots of time sailing and socializing in the small La Conner community. He resumed his hobby of painting until at least 2022, putting out dozens of new works.

Ron is survived by two sons (Ronlars and Dain), two grandchildren, a niece, nephews and numerous grand-nephews and grand-nieces.

A private, grave-side ceremony will be at noon on Dec. 17th at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Renton, where he will be buried next to his parents. An online memorial is provided by Beck's Tribute Center.