Garth Jones

Garth Jones, retired Associated Press bureau chief who covered Texas politics, news, and NASA space missions for 40 years, died Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2006, at the age of 88. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 21, at 10:00 a.m. at Weed Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar in Austin. Jones is survived his daughters and sons-in-laws Tiffany and Bill Hayes, and Bronwyn and Mark Turner; grandchildren Garth and Lindsay Hayes, Zachary and Marykate Turner and Manda Turner Harris; great-grandson, James Drake Harris; sister Marjorie Parmelly; brother and sister-in-law Kenneth and Virginia Jones; nieces and nephews Connie Petree, Sandra Wurst, the late William Parmelly, Mary Jones, Bernice Donnellan, David Jones and Carol Jones. He was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Philips Jones, who caught his eye while they both worked at the Abilene Reporter News just before World War II. He worked the night shift, and would leave notes in the witty brunette reporter’s typewriter to find as she started her day shift on the lifestyle desk. They continued their courtship by mail throughout the war and married in 1947. She was an amusements editor at the American Statesman during the war. Jones was born July 2, 1917, to the late Rev. Arthur and Cozette Jones in Tuscola, Texas. He was editor of his school paper at Vernon High School, and also at McMurry College. He signed on as a reporter with the Abilene Reporter News in 1938, while still a college student. Jones served with the 112th Texas National Guard Calvary when it was called up in October, 1940. He was stationed on Guadalcanal, and then in the Philippines, and finally in Japan with the occupation. After the war, Jones started work for the Associated Press in Dallas, covering the 1947 Texas legislature. He was assigned to the Austin bureau in 1956, and became bureau chief in 1961, covering Texas governors from Beauford Jester and Allan Shivers to Bill Clements. He reported on the late President Lyndon B. Johnson and a score of major news events in Texas from the Charles Whitman tower shootings to the Kennedy assassination. Asked what he would count as the top story he had ever covered, Jones named a NASA space mission. “The biggest (story) to me was when man landed on the moon,” he said in a Headliners Club newsletter. “I was only a very small part of it, part of a crew of about 50 people that AP had at the Space Center covering it, but to me, that’s the biggest story I ever had a part in.” Jones was noted for his wry sense of humor. During the 1985 legislature, he was asked to give the invocation. “Dear Lord, we thank You for being here today,” he said, according to the Senate Journal. “We hope we will be able to say that at the end of the day, too. Amen.” A Texas Senate Resolution in 1985 commended Jones on “his many years of excellent service to the State of Texas,” and noted “his significant contributions in recording the history of this state…. He has been a reliable source of political news for the people of Texas; he has maintained a tradition of providing readers with the most vital information in a responsible and accurate manner.” Jones was president of the Austin Headliners Club in 1967 and served on the board of trustees. He was awarded the second Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by the Headliners Foundation of Texas in 1987. He was a dedicated Texas Longhorn fan, helping cover games for the Associated Press along with his best friend, the late Ted Powers, AP photographer. Both men were longtime members of the Old Fitz Club at the Headliners, meeting Fridays at noon to discuss politics and football and toast one another. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made ( in memory of Garth Jones) to a college journalism scholarship administered by the Headliners Foundation, PO Box 97, Austin, Texas 78767. Obituary and guestbook on line at wcfish.com