Our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Ladd M Jones, returned to his heavenly home on Friday, November 4, 2022, after struggling with progressive supranuclear palsy for over seven years. While we will miss him terribly, we are comforted with the hope of a glorious reunion for Ladd and his parents and three brothers who preceded him in death.
Ladd was born on December 10, 1945, in Fillmore, Utah. He was the sixth and final son born to John Sibley Jones and Geneva Teeples Jones, following his brothers, Merlin [decd. 2010], LaVoy [decd. 2010], Kenneth [decd. 1931], Burdett, and Duane.
Ladd grew up in a loving home in Holden, Utah, where his parents worked hard to support their family. He spent a considerable amount of time outdoors—at the swimming hole with friends, hunting and fishing, riding his horse bareback because his family couldn’t afford a saddle, building and racing go-karts with the other local boys, and participating in Boy Scouts.
When Ladd was 15 years old, his family moved from Holden to Las Vegas, Nevada, in search of better employment opportunities. Voted “the friendliest boy” in his senior class at Western High School in Las Vegas, Ladd was well-known and well-liked. These were characteristics that remained with him throughout his life.
In the fall of 1964, Ladd attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and completed a year of school before returning home to prepare to serve a mission. Ladd served a two-and-a-half year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Denmark where his own testimony of the gospel grew as he taught others about Jesus Christ.
On his first day back at BYU, Ladd met a cute girl from California—Kathleen Vaught—who was sitting behind him in his math class, and the next day he asked her out. They began spending a lot of time together and were eventually engaged on January 14 and married on May 29, 1969, in the St. George Utah Temple.
Married life at BYU was very fun, and Ladd was a dedicated student. For their first year after marriage, Ladd and Kathy would drive to school together, meet for lunch every day, and help each other with studying and homework in accounting, finance, and law classes. Ladd graduated from Brigham Young University with a master’s degree in accounting in August 1972, having already passed the CPA exams.
After graduation Ladd and Kathy moved to California, where he got a job as a CPA with Laventhol, Krekstein, Horwath, and Horwath and worked there for five years. During this time he taught basic accounting classes two nights a week at Pasadena City College. In October 1977, he began working as the controller for Technology Service Corporation, a government defense contractor, and over the years Ladd was promoted to Director of Finance and made a member of the board of directors. He worked there until he retired 27 years later, in 2004.
The two most important things to Ladd were his family and his church. After he retired, Ladd and Kathy served as temple workers in the Los Angeles temple one week every month. They did this for three years and then decided to serve a full-time church service mission together at the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU-Hawaii, in Laie, Hawaii, where they served from September 2007 to March 2009. Ladd also served as a counselor in various bishoprics, as a stake and ward clerk, as a Scoutmaster, and as the bishop of the Newhall 1st ward from 1987 to 1991.
Ladd loved to spend time with his family. He and Kathy planned a family vacation every summer, starting when their own children were young and continuing to the present. He loved to travel, camp and go to the beach. He loved to swim in his backyard with his children and later his grandchildren. He loved to go to any performance or event that involved one of his children or grandchildren and enjoyed playing games with his family and friends. Ladd loved the outdoors and was physically active his whole life, prior to his illness. He particularly enjoyed hiking, bike riding, and running. Over the years, he completed three marathons, several long-distance bike rides—including a 200-mile ride down the California coast—, and many hiking trips and outdoor adventures with his family and the scouts.
Ladd will always be remembered for his love for BYU sports—especially football. Before the BYU football games were televised nationally, he would often go to the stake center, where they were broadcasted, or would go sit in the car in the driveway to listen to games on the radio. He continued to support the BYU Cougars during his final weeks.
He will be remembered by all of his family and friends for his fun personality, his sense of humor, his love of life (and of chocolate!), his love for his wife and family, and his commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. During the past few years, he will be especially remembered for his strength and cheerful attitude while facing many health problems and for his characteristic "thumbs up" whenever anyone asked him how he was doing. He was patient and kind and loving to the end.
Ladd is survived by his wife of 53 years, Kathy, and their six children: Shauna (Wendell), Michele (John), Stacy (Jeff), Kerri (Don), Steven (David), and Kevin (Julia), twenty-seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
