John "Jack" Walker Jones' Obituary
Beloved John Walker Jones, M.D., fondly known throughout his life as Jack, died peacefully at home after a brief illness on Sunday morning, April 6, 2025, blessed and sung into a loving eternity by family.
Jack was born in Lynchburg, VA on February 14, 1932, and grew up in nearby Rustburg, VA. He enjoyed summers at Willow Lake with his extended family of Walkers, Taylors, Hughes, McCulloughs and Adams. Clan ancestry exchanges, stored on his eidetic memory, became part of his eclectic storytelling repertoire. Vacation delights, such as crabbing and antics with his Hughes cousins at Sharps on the Rappahannock River, evolved into years of fostering children’s talents and interests, family travel, and annual road trips for East coast family visits, to travel abroad, fine dining, and attending Metropolitan Opera and Tanglewood performances. After retirement and starting in 2012, Jack spent the cooler months in Gainesville, FL to be closer to family, and continued voluminous reading of historical tomes, writing his memoirs, and genealogical work. He regularly enjoyed lectures, personal interactions, and travel opportunities offered by the Village retirement community, as well as the performing arts at nearby Santa Fe College.
Growing up in Virginia, Jack spent his second-grade school year attending only half days, returning home in the afternoons for doctor-ordered bed rest from some unspecified ailment. Thus restricted, and picturing himself “floating down the stairs to play outdoors with friends”, he developed a life-long passion for all forms of physical activity, from gardening to biking, tennis and early morning aerobics. Later, he delighted in walking the Northern Tier trails, very near his home in East Lansing, and Gainesville’s lovely trails and Village paths. He seldom missed an opportunity to walk to the Village Apiary and sit and enjoy the surroundings (the last one just two weeks before his death) and to Jasmine Pointe on Saturday mornings to join friends Ted and Sue Tims and family for Ted’s weekly Music Therapy session.
Early tragedy affected his family when Jack’s older brother, Robert (Bob) Emory Jones, died just shy of his 20th birthday in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Bob was among the group of Virginia Military Institute (VMI) students who graduated early, shipped off to basic training, and then to war. Although much younger than Bob, the loss directly influenced the trajectory of Jack’s life. He declined his father’s wishes that he attend VMI and graduate as a soldier. Instead, he lived into his remarkable mother’s dream to become a physician.
One of seventeen graduates of Rustburg High School, Jack attended Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, VA with the short-lived intention of studying history. However, his biology teacher was a transformational and inspiring mentor, so he switched majors to biology. Between classes, Jack pursued a love of theater with performances of Shakespeare, including quoting Hamlet soliloquies on demand, and developed a love of all styles and genres of music.
After graduating as a Valedictorian, Jack relocated to Richmond, VA, enrolled at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), and received his M.D. degree. At MCV, Jack completed his internship and internal medicine residency as chief resident where he received the William Branch Porter Award for excellence. As a Junior resident in the summer of 1958, Jack met the love of his life, medical student Peggy (Margaret) Zee. He wooed her by reading Winnie the Pooh aloud during her late nights in the research laboratory at the McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond. On August 29, 1959, the couple married and then honeymooned in Cape Cod, MA.
After Margaret acquired her MD degree in 1961, the couple relocated to Seattle, WA and the University of Washington. Soon after settling in, Stewart was born, and Mary came along three years later. Jack completed specialty training in cardiology and participated in pioneering diagnostic use of treadmill exercise in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Bruce. For the next three years, Jack embarked on basic lipid biochemistry research under Dr. Peter Ways’ tutelage, as well as serving as a cardiologist in the United States Public Health Service.
Dr. Jack Jones was recognized as a consummate internist and cardiologist during his positions at the MCV and McGuire Veterans Administration Hospital. In 1969, he relocated to Michigan State University’s (MSU) new College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI and combined clinical responsibilities with development and implementation of a problem based medical education program at MSU. His primary focus as medical educator was combined with clinical research on hypertension, and he was well respected by students and faculty alike.
In 1974, Jack and Margaret attended Lamaze classes in preparation for the birth of Amanda. They were the oldest couple in class and referred to the experience as feeling like Abraham and Sarah. Amanda became a world traveler when at age two she moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne, England with the rest of the family for Jack and Margaret’s 1st sabbatical from MSU. After 6 months of studying echocardiology, Jack returned to the US with the two girls and started the first cardiac ultrasound program at MSU. Meanwhile, Margaret continued her sabbatical and Stewart completed one year at Collège Cévenol in France. The family reunited in the summer of 1977 back in East Lansing.
Seven years later, the timing was right for Jack to make a mid-career specialty change to geriatric medicine when Margaret obtained a sabbatical leave position at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland. With Amanda in tow, the three spent a year abroad while Stewart attended medical school and Mary started college. Jack and two colleagues returned from their retraining opportunities to MSU and set up a geriatric assessment center. Jack retired from his MSU faculty position in 2001 and continued a very rewarding practice of geriatric medicine for several years. He was especially valued by his co-workers, patients and trainees.
Global travel and sabbatical leaves abroad, integral to Jack’s and Margaret’s careers, enriched their lives. They were devoted to lifelong learning and daily devotion to meditation and fitness. Although he did not consider himself an athlete, he was a committed member of the 5:30am aerobics class at the East Lansing YMCA for many years. He played tennis with Stewart and would swim with Mary riding on his back at the University Club. In later years, he favored long walks with his lifelong sweetheart, Margaret. During East Lansing summer and fall, he loved strolling through Albert White Memorial Park, along the city trails to Biggby Coffee and home again. During Gainesville winter and spring, Jack would host family and guests on walks in Paynes Prairie and Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve to experience the wondrous variety of birds.
A lifelong Methodist, Jack was a devoted member and teacher at University United Methodist Church (UUMC), East Lansing, MI. Over many summers, he led the fireside chats at UUMC family camp with readings from Winnie the Pooh and introduced the campers to southern grits at breakfast. Later, he participated in Trinity UMC while in Gainesville. Introduced to exciting historical biblical studies by Dr. Harold Sorter early in their marriage, Jack and Margaret explored age-old existential questions and writings of contemporary scholars, especially with the ecumenical Vespers group at Central UMC, Lansing, MI. In later years, they enjoyed studies and performances at the Chautauqua Institute. A lover of music, especially opera, he thoroughly supported musician daughter Mary's education and enjoyed her Florida Pro Musica and Chorus Angelorum performances. She sang him into and through the end of his earthly life with her beautiful voice.
He was an incredibly supportive and positive partner for Margaret throughout her careers as a professor, medical researcher, pastor and hospice chaplain. After joint retirement, Jack enjoyed participating with Margaret on official visits with all United Methodist chaplains in their diverse settings across Michigan, Indiana, and Florida. For his children, grandchildren and godchildren, Jack instilled the importance of ancestral history, reading, learning about other cultures, patience, compassion, diversity, equity and inclusion.
Jack was predeceased by parents, Edward Worthington Jones and Susan Dabney Walker Jones, older sister, Lucy Jones Wilburn, and brother, Robert Emory Jones. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Margaret Zee Jones, children Dr. John Stewart Jones (Sharon McGuire), Mary Cassaday Jones (Tom Rutherford), and Dr. Amanda Worthington Jones Demopoulos (George Demopoulos), grandchildren Robert, Matthew (Courtney Mascarella), Shane, Ariana Jones, and Clara Demopoulos, cousin Holcombe Hughes, nieces Susan Perryman and Lucy Grubbs and nephew, Joseph Wilburn, and Godchildren Eunice (Andrew Brawner) and Yaw and Arabella Awuah and their parents, Agatha and Emmanuel Awuah. Jack’s extensive family network enjoyed his deep and abiding love, generosity, and attention.
A funeral service will be held on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 10:00 AM. at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville, FL and live streamed through their website at a time to be determined. Interment will take place at the Hollywood Cemetery family burial plot in Richmond, VA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to University United Methodist Church, East Lansing, MI, Trinity United Methodist Church Gainesville, FL, the Dr. Jack Jones medical scholarship at Michigan State University, the Medical College of Virginia Foundation, or the charity of your choice.
The family extends their sincere thanks and deep appreciation to the Village staff, Village Health Care and Concierge Care health care teams and, especially, to Haven Hospice.
The service will be livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/live/J2cHQGRU76s?si=rL2gUHnwvuoCWlZS
and the church invites you to view their funeral page at www.trinitygnv.org/funerals
What’s your fondest memory of John "Jack"?
What’s a lesson you learned from John "Jack"?
Share a story where John "Jack"'s kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with John "Jack" you’ll never forget.
How did John "Jack" make you smile?
