David Lawrence Jones

David was born in Wenatchee, Washington on May 29, 1943. His parents were David Jones and Effie Nioma Wise. His father, a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps, was a casualty of the European front of World War II. Nioma, as she preferred to be called, raised David along with his step-father, Lloyd Specker. David was the oldest of four children; he is preceded in death by his brothers William and Lester, and his sister Laurie.

David enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1962 as a Cryptographic Systems Equipment Repairman. During his enlistment he was stationed in Texas and in Washington State, but between schools and missions to ongoing operations in Southeast Asia, he was rarely on station. He concluded his active-duty military service in 1966 as a part of the 6948th Security Squadron Mobile and went to work for Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company (PNB).

While at PNB, David met Iris Louise Parkinson. They were married on November 8th, 1969, and initially lived in Maple Valley, Washington. Together, they had four children: Jason, Kristina, Erika, and Peter. In 1976 they moved to Snohomish, Washington in order to give their children access to the best public schools that Washington had to offer. David left PNB and went to work for General Telephone and Electronics Corporation (GTE). Over the years, David left GTE and contracted as a project manager. His favorite project among them was his participation in The Boeing Company’s development and production of the 777.

After his work with Boeing, David took permanent employment again with Teleport Communications Group (TCG), a pioneer in fiber optic communications. David stayed on as a manager when TCG was later acquired by AT&T, bringing his civilian telecommunications career full-circle.

David’s wife, Iris, passed away suddenly on November 7th, 2020, a day before their 51st wedding anniversary. In the end, David enjoyed reading, watching the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners, and the Kraken, and weekly video calls with various family members. In addition to his children and their spouses (Macie, Thomas and Mark), David leaves behind grandchildren Maryah, Jacob, Gabriel, Justin, and Michaela, and grandson Lucas and brothers-in-law Bob and Doug.