Donald Milton Jones

Donald Milton Jones, age 85, passed away peacefully on May 29, 2024, surrounded by loving family while in the hospice care of Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah.

On April 16, 1939, in Price, Utah, a baby boy was born two months premature to a Norwegian mother and father of Welsh ancestry.  Because of his small size, he slept in a shoebox within safe proximity to a wood burning stove in their humble home. They didn’t know it at the time, but this tiny human was scrappy, and that trait would define him for the rest of his life...

When he was 2 years old, the family moved to Provo, Utah, and then to Meridian, Idaho, when he was 8. It was here that he worked hard on the family farm, laboring alongside his sizable clan of what would eventually be 7 siblings.

This boy liked movement and he had a mechanical turn of mind. He often said that recess was his favorite part of elementary school and he discovered early in life, mostly around the farm, that he liked working with machinery.

He enjoyed playing baseball for three years in high school and participated in football for one year.

He served a 2 ½ year mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was initially very homesick.  He learned to speak Portuguese, and mentioned that his first mission was where he realized that he very much enjoyed teaching. Later in life he would serve a second mission with his wife, Sandy, in the Philippines.

He met Sandy, his wife of forty-eight years, in Boise, Idaho, in the early 1960’s and then was soon drafted into the United States army. They loaded up their few belongings and for their honeymoon they drove across the country to Massachusetts. After completing basic training in Boston, he was stationed for one year in Turkey.

He spoke proudly of organizing a softball team while in Turkey and of playing a tournament against other military branches (specifically the Air Force) on the big base in Ankara. During this time, his oldest son, Jeffrey Donald, was born. He did not see Jeff until he was 9 months old.

In college he focused on agriculture and engineering classes at Utah State University. He had a particular fondness for the Arboriculture class he took while there.

He began his professional life in Automotive Diesel Mechanics, eventually working at three different companies as the shop supervisor. Don enjoyed his professional work very much and he particularly enjoyed training others. During the last part of his career, he was the head trainer for those working on big equipment in a large national company and was eventually named the National Safety Supervisor during his final years before retirement.

After raising ten children together, Don and Sandy found themselves at different paths and they divorced in 2011.

He often mentioned that being a father was very important to him “from the time I can remember, and that desire has not left me.” His children will remember him for the loving care he displayed with his garden and fruit trees, for his mechanical skills, for his love of good books, for reading with them at night and for his secret stash of ice cream in the freezer.

After a valiant fight with Parkinson’s, he knew his time had come and he was at peace with it. During his final hours, he woke up briefly and said, “Chao!” to those gathered beside him. “It’s time,” he said.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Leone, his father, Milton, his sister, Joyann, his brother, Sam, his granddaughter, Alexandra, his grandson, Moses, and his great granddaughter, Everly.

Don’s children would like to publicly thank the Sam and Marilyn Jones family for the incredible love, generosity and kindness they showed Don while he lived on their property during the later years of his life.

In addition, they would like to thank the kind and attentive staff at Valencia in Draper, where he truly found a home and a community during this final chapter.

Finally, many heartfelt thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff at Intermountain Medical Center who lovingly tended to him during his final hours and facilitated a peaceful goodbye for the family.

A viewing is scheduled between 6:00 and 8:00 pm on June 5th at Anderson and Goff Mortuary, 11859 South 700 East, Draper, Utah.

On June 6th, another viewing, at 9:00 am, will precede the funeral scheduled at 10:00 am, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the following address: 11777 Willow Wood Drive, Draper, Utah.

Interment will be at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East 10600 South, Draper, Utah.

The service will be livestreamed on the Anderson & Goff Mortuary Facebook Page at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Funeral-Service---Cemetery/Anderson-Goff-Mortuary-293949407707203/
(The livestream video will appear when the service starts.)