AB Jones Jr.

AB Jones was born to Renda and Arthur Jones on February 9, 1945, in Goldthwaite, TX. He married Shawn Marie Tapler on June 29, 1996. Prior to his untimely death they were enjoying their new home with a view of SMU and downtown Dallas, making plans for travel to Panama, and simply enjoying the best years of their lives together.

AB never had surgery before and was not worried about the removal of his appendix, a common-enough procedure. It was only after the surgery turned major to include the removal of a leaking appendix, a tumor, and part of his colon that he was faced with a longer recovery than anticipated. Optimism turned to concern, concern to major worry, and worry to the realization that AB was gravely ill. Infection in his blood, liver and kidney malfunctions, and a weakened heart became too much to overcome. He knew his condition, the efforts of the specialists treating him, and the need of miraculous intervention. His faith was great, example heroic, and despair unknown.

On March 5, 2011, last Saturday afternoon, the miraculous came in AB’s passing, as it always does for a Christian. He was welcomed home by his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AB was ready. He knew so; he said so, he acted so.

We know:

They are not dead

Who in the Lord do rest:

Their journey done,

Their faith confessed,

Their journey now begins.

With us they wait

For His triumphant day.

It is fitting that AB will be laid to rest at Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery. He was a proud and patriotic American. He served in the Army, 82 Airborne, in Korea, as a paratrooper, mechanic, and singer in the military chorale.

Second to his walk with his Lord, AB was a family man. He was a part of a small family: only sixty or so show up for their annual reunions in Orange, TX, where he would cook and joke and laugh and sing. He also loved the water, good times, and good friends on his boat on Lake Texoma with Shawn, Calli, and Mackenzie. Those were good family times. In addition to his brothers David and John and his sister Louise, AB leaves behind his son Mark, his four daughters Renda, Deanna, Calli, Mackenzie, granddaughter Laura, and two grandsons Noah and Caleb. Then there are his seventeen nephews and nieces and thirty-eight great nephews and nieces.

As a businessman, AB loved to restore and grow businesses that had great potential but had fallen on hard times. He moved to Tyler in 1978 to manage a Home Health agency and soon became President and then owner. Called Home Health Home Care, he renamed the agency Mobile Nurses, Inc. This was followed by a sister agency called Guardian Nursing Service. Over the next few years he oversaw the opening of offices all over East Texas as far as Huntsville to the south and Bonham to the north; Carthage to the east and Dallas to the west, covering a fifty-county area.

It was through these agencies that AB introduced skilled medical care in the home. His agencies were the first to introduce infusion therapy in a home setting. In 1986 A.B. sold the agencies, moved to Orange, and continued to promote the infusion therapy concept to physicians and numerous home health agencies. He enjoyed helping others.

There were other businesses not to be mentioned here. His last, Precision Coating Technologies (PCT), had grown under his leadership. He excitedly talked about how well it was doing and the expectations he had for it. Even with PCT, AB pursued a business that helped others. PCT provides environmentally safe formulated products to the piping and road construction industries.

As a Christian businessman, he was a roaring lamb: carrying his witness to the workplace, conducting Bible studies, and searching for ways to best use that which the Lord had provided him.

He loved. He was loved. He will be missed.

Memorial donations can be made to Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, P.O. Box 3968, Gaithersburg, MD 20885-3968, www.cfsrf.org AB had a very special place in his heart for children, and CFSRF provides college grants and financial assistance to surviving children of US military service members.

Family

Arthur B. Jones, father, deceased

Renda Wooten, mother, deceased

Ben Jones, son, deceased

Cheryl Maberry Hanneman, niece, deceased

Rhonda Maberry, niece, deceased

Doris Jones, sister, deceased

Joyce Jones, sister, deceased

Eldon Dock Jones, brother, deceased

Ruby D. Jones, sister, deceased

Louise Mayberry, sister

F. David Jones, brother

John W. Jones, brother

Mark K. Jones, son

Renda R. Napolitano, daughter

Deanna McCollum, daughter

Calli Tapler, daughter

McKenzie Tapler, daughter

Noah Napolitano, Caleb Jones, grandchildren

Seventeen nephews and nieces

Thirty-eight great nephews and nieces