Wilson Jones

Aldred Wilson Jones (known to those who value their life as "Wilson"), died peacefully on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at the Peabody Home, Franklin, NH, 16 days shy of his 87th birthday. The only son of Maud Ella (Wilson) Jones and Aldred Harrington Jones of Baltimore, MD, Wilson was a graduate of Baltimore's Park School (1946) and Haverford College (1950). Shortly thereafter, following a tip from those sending out the letters from the draft office, he enlisted in the Air Force. Nearly 30 years later, he retired following tours in Hawaii, Washington, DC, and Stuttgart, Germany among others. Highlights of his military service include an afternoon spent in the White House sweating over a typewriter writing a one-page memo for the president's night file, and devising real-world war plans at Readiness Command in Tampa, Florida. A life-long fisherman, he reeled in a 650lb tuna on his honeymoon in Nova Scotia, a marlin off Costa Rica, and nearly had to fight a bear for a salmon in Alaska. He spent many happy years summering on MacMahan Island, Georgetown, ME where he first went as a companion for his beloved college English professor, Ned Snyder, and then went on to meet and marry both his wife, Eleanor Rogers Wideman "Norée," and after her death, his wife Sara MacLean Walker "Sally" of Salisbury, NH. Known for his outspoken sense of humor, his stories of African safaris with his trusted guide (fiction?), his appreciation of cocktails at all hours, fishing trips on his boat the "Fish Dish," and gravy, Wilson was a 17-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. He is survived by Sally, his wife of 52 years; his three children, Janet Jones Stebbins, of Portland, ME, Heather Jones Sano (Tony) of Clifton Park, NY, and Thomas Wilson Jones (Lisa), of Windham, ME; two grandchildren, Christopher MacLean Sano and Madelyn Claire Sano both of Clifton Park, NY, niece Martha Kennedy, nephew David Kennedy, extended family and friends, and last but not least, "all Jean's relatives." A family memorial service is planned for April in NH. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Salisbury Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary P.O. Box 100 Salisbury, NH 03268.