Van Jones

Van Jones, 88, passed away on Tuesday, January 21, 2020.  He had lived in the King George and Fredericksburg areas for over sixty years.  

Van was born with a twin brother, Dan, in Oklahoma City in 1931 during hard times in this country. Van, like many children born and raised in those lean years of the 1930's, wore overalls and tennis shoes in the winter and went barefooted in the summer.  Van and Dan were always together spending many hours outside roaming around their neighborhood. 

In 1947, at the age of 16, Van joined the Army and completed a three-year tour of duty in Germany where he was assigned to the 26th Infantry Regiment, First Division. He then was assigned to the third Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meade, Maryland. While training at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, he met and married his first wife, Joyce Covington. In 1952, he was sent to Korea assigned to the 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division. He earned a Combat Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star.  He was a Sargent First Class when he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1954.

Following his military service, he worked at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia. He worked on computers in Dahlgren and in the Naval Surveillance Command where he was Chief of Computer Operations. In 1966, he transferred to the Headquarters Army Material Command in Washington, DC, as a Computer Specialist.  He retired from federal service in 1976.

After being a widower for several years, he met and remarried in 2008. He is survived by his wife, Eleanor Jones, who now lives with family in Ladysmith, Virginia.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, February 1, at Covenant Funeral Service, Fredericksburg.  A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Van’s name to the Alzheimer's Association for Alzheimer's and Dementia research.