Milton Owen ‘MO’ Jones
Nov. 2, 1925 – Dec. 19, 2014
Milton Owen “MO” Jones, 89, of Pleasanton, Calif., died peacefully on Dec. 19, 2014, after a short illness. MO was born Nov. 2, 1925, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the third of six children. His family moved to Lovell, where he started school.
As a youth, Milt played football for Lovell High School. He graduated early from high school and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served as an aviation ordinanceman during WWII, seeing action in the Philippines and occupied China.
Following the end of the war, he returned to Lovell, where he met Marjorie Jones. They married April 9, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He began studies in engineering at Utah State University. He later transferred to and received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Milt continued his military service by commissioning as an artillery officer in the United States Army Reserves. Following graduation in 1951 he accepted a position with Sandia Corp. and moved to Albuquerque, N.M. He was a project engineer with responsibility for nuclear weapons development. His employment took him to Livermore, Calif., in 1958, where he continued work with Sandia Corp. He purchased a home and other properties in Livermore.
He was a craftsman and always had a building project that occupied his spare time. He developed a joy for sailing and crafted a trimaran, which he often sailed in the San Francisco Bay. In 1966 he purchased property on Happy Valley Road in Pleasanton and built the home in which he lived the rest of his life.
He retired from Sandia Corp. in 1984 and enjoyed touring the United States in the family motor home with trips to the east coast and Alaska. Following the passing of his wife, Marjorie, in 2004, he married Ellen Jones Zwemer in 2008 and later separated in 2013.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Milt served in many capacities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Cub Scout leader and ward clerk with the Pleasanton 2nd Ward.
Milt loved his family and enjoyed participating in each family activity with his children and grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Francis Owen Jones and Katie Luella Ericksen Jones, his sisters Norma Kathleen Nielsen and Barbara Kay Frischknecht, his brothers Donovan E. Jones, Robert Francis Jones and John Richard Jones, his wife, Marjorie Jones Jones, and his granddaughter Emily Lynn Brady.
He is survived by his children, Ida Kristine Fonnesbeck and her husband, Robert W. Fonnesbeck, of Castro Valley, Calif.; Ruth Ann Kelley of Manteca, Calif., Brenda Kay Valdes of Manteca, Calif.; Steven Milton Jones and his wife Karen of El Dorado Hills, Calif.; 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are under the direction of Graham-Hitch Funeral Home, Pleasanton, Calif. Funeral services will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3574 Vineyard Ave., Pleasanton, on Monday, Dec. 29, 2014, at 11 a.m., with a viewing at 10 a.m. Burial will be at the Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery.