S. Todd Jones

1948 - 2025

S. Todd Jones
10/13/1948 - 12/06/2025
Funeral service, Thursday, January 8, beginning at 1 PM at the First United Methodist Church, 900 S. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi. Celebration of life, October 13, 2026, Austin, time and location to be announced.

Samuel Todd Harries Jones passed away Saturday, December 6, 2025, in Austin. Todd just missed the golden opportunity to be a native Texan when he was born October 13, 1948, in Gainesville, Florida, where his father was attending law school. But by the time he was six months old, he was in Corpus Christi.
Todd fondly remembered a happy childhood in Corpus Christi. As a preschool student, he was locally famous for building a tower of wooden blocks that was so tall the Corpus Christi Caller-Times published a photograph of it for posterity. He attended Fisher Elementary School and Carl O. Hamlin Junior High School, where his classmates named him the "Cutest Boy" in the seventh grade and he launched his musical career with a talent show performance of "Wine, Wine, Wine": "You get a nickel And I'll get a dime We'll go out and buy some wine…." School officials were slightly alarmed. He also met his lifelong friend Bobby Benowitz at Hamlin. During this time, Todd had his first job, sacking groceries at his neighborhood HEB. The grocery chain's owner Howard E. Butt, a family friend, personally delivered holiday hams to the family home and locked in generations of Jones customers.
During his school days, Todd also became an Eagle Scout - Boy Scouting's highest rank - and was an active member of First United Methodist Church.
He graduated from W.B. Ray High School in 1966 and received an associate's degree from Del Mar College. He was a student body leader, serving as a class officer in high school and junior college. As Del Mar's student social chairman, he organized "hootenannies" and continued to play the guitar and sing as a solo act and with friends. He also wrote and performed his original songs. After Del Mar, he transferred to The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1971.
Todd enjoyed staying in touch with classmates from all his schools and chaired the 50th reunion celebration committee for the Ray class of 1966.
He briefly lived in Nashville, writing for award-winning advertising agency Harmon and Crook. In his spare time, he knocked on doors on Music Row, the historic home of music publishers and recording studios. Among the luminaries he met was Johnny Cash, who offered him a contract to be a staff writer. He declined after his father warned Todd that he would be relinquishing all his rights to any songs he wrote. He returned to Texas, but music remained his first love, and he continued to write and perform, leaving a family legacy of dozens of original songs, handwritten in a tattered, well-loved notebook.
In Corpus Christi, Austin, and San Antonio, Todd worked for advertising agencies as a copywriter and eventually moved into advertising sales for television and print media. In Corpus Christi, he worked for Adcraft Advertising and developed the city's signature "Sparkling City by the Sea" campaign and jingle for the local tourist bureau. He also was the host for KIII Channel 3's "Dialing for Dollars," a television game show program where he played his guitar and gave out prizes during movie intermissions. In Austin, he worked for Neal Spelce Public Relations, the Texas Medical Association, Time Warner Cable Enterprises, and the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. And in San Antonio, he worked for Texas Parade magazine, SA Magazine, the Express-News newspaper, and Texas Flyer, an inflight magazine for Texas International Airlines.
More recently, he owned and managed the Jones family timber farm in Lake City, Florida, and rental properties in San Antonio, where he also maintained a second home. He had a special interest in restoring and preserving historic properties, including apartments in San Antonio's Monte Vista Historic District and the Florida farmhouse where his paternal grandparents raised their children.
A seasoned traveler, Todd visited cities throughout the United States and the world. He made 23 trips to Hawaii, where he was a regular at Honolulu's historic Moana Surfrider hotel and local music venues, especially Chuck's Cellar. Other memorable destinations included Africa, Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, the Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Todd was preceded in death by his parents, former Nueces County District Attorney Sam L. Jones, Jr., and Frances Evelyn "Siddie" Hoepfner Jones. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Donna Rae Billie Jones, Austin; son Adam Todd Jones, Brooklyn, New York; daughter Shepherd Lauraine Jones, Houston; grandsons Miles Jude Jones, Brooklyn, New York, and Donald James Page, Austin; brother Jay Christopher Jones, Plano; nephews Kevin Jones, Frisco, and Colby Todd Jones, Winchester, Virginia; other beloved family members; and dear friends near and far.
He was a child of God, treasured husband, proud father and grandfather, silly little brother, loyal friend, dedicated musician, enthusiastic two-stepper, diligent family history buff, well-dressed carouser, and a die-hard fan of the Three Stooges.
We love you always.
Condolences and memories to the family can be shared at https://www.seasidefuneral.com/obituaries/Samuel-T-Jones?obId=46779945
Memorial donations may be made to the MD Anderson Cancer Center at https://mdanderson.donordrive.com/campaigns/S--Todd-Jones or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at www.stjude.org.