Evan Winthrop Jones II

1934 - 2025

Evan Winthrop Jones II

August 29, 1934 - April 5, 2025

Sacramento, California - Evan Winthrop Jones II was a modern polymath in every sense. He appreciated the arts, published books, traveled the world, cared deeply about the environment, maintained trails, adventured up mountains and down rivers, and never accepted the answer "I don't know." He lived a wonderful life and after a brief bout of pneumonia, died on April 5 under palliative care, surrounded by family.

Born in Grass Valley to Evan Winthrop and Frances Lucilla Wright Jones, he was always admiring nature, questioning assumptions, tinkering, and making "annoying" thought problems expecting the Fermi solution. As a boy, he discovered that sodium explodes in water, built a Van de Graaff generator, and fabricated an ice cream maker from an old washing machine. He later graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1955, and from USC with a M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1960.

Evan became a highly revered Physics professor at Sierra College, a vocation he incorporated into everyday life with fervor. He left to spend two years establishing a cooperative market in Nairobi, Kenya, under contract with the Methodist Church, with his first wife Gail and son Mark. He returned to teaching at Sierra in 1965, where he became known for his experiments and demonstrations - which he also shared at his daughter's elementary schools - and retired in 1998. Not one to truly retire, in 2002 he rode his bicycle 540 miles to his 50th high school reunion.

An avid reader and writer, Evan had a lifelong curiosity about the world, reveling in its mysteries as well as its knowns. He contributed to physics text books and magazines and regularly wrote letters to the editor of the Sac Bee on a wide array of subjects, from global overpopulation to wealth inequality to renewable energy. His first book was a hiking guide of the American River Canyon trails and his most recent publication challenged conventional thinking about the Bernoulli principle. Passionate about hiking, biking, whitewater rafting, kayaking, scuba diving, travel, art and music, Evan deeply relished his life to the very end and helped to enrich the lives of those around him. His children were especially fortunate to join many of his adventures and adopt aspects of his sense of wonder.

He is preceded in death by his dear friend, colleague, and crony, John Sperry. He is survived by his children, Mark (Connie) Jones and Lynsey Tamsen Jones (Al Smith), his grandchildren, Stuart (Amy) Burke-Jones, Robert Jones, and Everleigh Sierra Smith, and by his two younger sisters, Susan (John) Allen and Deborah (Jim) Prescott. Additionally, he is remembered by his former wives, Gail Conley, Janet Haley, and Shari Newman, who were important chapters in his life, and by his stepchildren, including Christian White (d. 2016) and Dustin White.

Donations may be made to Population Connection or your favorite charity.