Allan Charles Jones

Allan Charles Jones was born January 10th, 1944, in Portland, Maine, to Charles and Marjorie (Mayberry) Jones. He died June 30, 2026 at the age of 82 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia from complications following a fall at his home in Falls Church.

After a childhood full of typical New England adventures and lots of music, Al attended the US Naval Academy, studying Mechanical Engineering and singing in a barbershop quartet with the Naval Academy Glee Club. A “Friendship Tour” with the Glee Club took Al to the Midwest where he met Cheryl Folbrecht at a school dance and they were married shortly after he graduated in 1967. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he served four years on the USS Dahlgren and the USS Sumpter.

While in the Navy, Al explored many different cities and sought out connections to people from all walks of life. His love of storytelling and learning drove him to go back to school after his military service and he received a Masters in Education from Assumption College in Worcester MA. He went on to have a 40+ year long career in education in both the public and private sectors. In the public K-12 system in Massachusetts, he was a high school math teacher, was elected to the School Board for the town of Oxford, and served as the District Chief Information and Technology Officer, presiding over the introduction of computer technology to the schools. Al kept in touch with many of his high school students through the years and was always proud to hear about their accomplishments.

Al’s work in the education sector expanded beyond Massachusetts and received national recognition. He was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation in 1990 from the US Department of Education for his service to the Secretary’s Fund for Innovation in Education and meaningfully contributed to Project COFFEE, a program that received a Presidential Commendation for its exceptional success as an industry-education partnership designed to reengage at-risk high school students with a combination of classroom studies and vocational technology training. This project married his strong sense of justice and his dedication to bettering the world through education.

Al shifted his focus to the private sector in the late 1980’s, working ten years in corporate research at Digital Equipment Corporation, advising institutions such as MIT and the National Science Foundation on developing and implementing industry/university research relationships. He then worked as a senior researcher and planning consultant for the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT), where he assisted schools, districts and states with technology planning. Towards the end of his career, he helped found Emaginos, a company that provided technology infrastructure and curriculum innovations to public school systems.

When he wasn’t trying to fix the educational system, Al could often be found fixing things around the house and was happiest when puttering in his workshop full of woodworking tools. The only thing he liked better than building something was TEACHING someone how to build something, as his family members (and especially his son-in-law) can all attest. One of the saddest parts about Al’s Parkinson’s diagnosis was the limits his resulting tremors placed on his ability to work with his hands.

Al’s greatest joy in life was his family, which included his wife of 59 years Cheryl (Folbrecht) Jones, daughters Heather (Jones) Cleary and Kimberly (Jones) Scott, son-in-law Peter M Scott, and granddaughters Elsa, Carolyn, and Talia Makarov. He and Cheri moved to Haymarket, VA in 2005 in order to be closer to their granddaughters and many happy memories were created as he taught them how to make meatballs, paint the barn, and drive the yellow mowing tractor on his 5 acres of land. He was thrilled that his granddaughters shared his love of music and was a devoted attendee at their School of Rock performances over the years. When he could still travel, Al loved driving back to New England for annual family reunions and Peaks Island trips with his younger sister Leslie (Jones) Penny, brother-in-law Robert Penny, younger brother Brad Jones, sister-in-law Song Ae Jones, and his siblings’ wonderful children and grandchildren.

Never one to sit idle in retirement, in recent years Al turned his research and problem-solving skills to a new area of interest, co-authoring a book titled Fight Poverty – Not the Poor published in 2023. He inspired us all with his vision of the world as a place where people help each other and where small acts of kindness can bring people together and lead to greater change. In keeping with Al’s career in education and his concern for the effects of poverty on students, please consider making a donation in his memory to Educate Fairfax, a group that helps provide school supplies to teachers and low income students.

https://educatefairfax.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donate Please be sure to check the box indicating that the donation is dedicated in memory of Allan C Jones, and use [email protected] as the email for the acknowledgment so we can thank you for honoring his memory in that way.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Al’s daughter Kim’s house on July 25th from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. Please reach out to her via the above email for details. Al’s ashes will be laid to rest in Maine with his parents on August 8th.