Eugene D. Jones Jr.
Retired Postmaster Who Also Served as an

Executive With State Welfare Department Dead

 

By JOHN W. SIMMS
Special to the Chronicle

 

Eugene D. Jones Jr., a retired postmaster of the Moore Postal Station for the U.S. Postal Service, who went on to become an executive with the state’s welfare department, died on Jan. 29.
He was 90 years-old.
Mr. Jones began his career with the postal service as a mail-carrier and held various managerial positions before he was promoted to become postmaster.
He retired—as it turned out—for the first time—in 1977.
That retirement seemed to have launched a new career for Mr. Jones, and he, subsequently, became a welfare fraud inspector for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services before he was named equal employment opportunity officer for that state agency.
His second retirement was in 1987.
Mr. Jones had a colorful and varied career prior to his joining the U.S. Postal Service soon after the end of the war.
For example, an accomplished musician, he once performed in a nightclub in the “Deep Deuce” area of Oklahoma City on NE Second Street, and he oftentimes was called upon to be a bartender at catered affairs (He sometimes did his bartending even after his two retirements).
Also, Mr. Jones once worked for Marigold Dairy and worked for a time at Tinker U.S. Air Force Base.
Eugene DePriest Jones Jr. was born on Nov. 23, 1922, in Oklahoma City to Eugene D. Jones Sr. and Ruby Dowdy Jones.
Having attended schools in St. Louis, Mo., Mr. Jones graduated in 1940 from Douglass High School of Oklahoma City.
He attended South Carolina State College.
Mr. Jones served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and was a member of the 196th Ground Forces Army Band in Normandy, France.
He received an honorable discharge.
Long a supporter of civil rights causes, Mr. Jones held a gold lifetime membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In addition, he held a lifetime membership in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
He was a member of the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.
Florine Wilkes Jones, Mr. Jones’ wife, whom he married on May 1, 1944, preceded him in death.
Mr. Jones is survived by two daughters: Valerie Jones Dominguez (San Antonio, Texas) and Vanessa Jones Manning (Pyatt, Ark.).
Also, he is survived by three sons: Eugene D. Jones III and Bernard Jones (both of Oklahoma City), and Thomas Jones (Austin, Texas).
A number of grandchildren and great grandchildren are among Mr. Jones’ survivors, as well.
A funeral mass was said in Mr. Jones’ honor on Feb. 2 at the Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church. Fr. Jack Zupez officiated.
Interment was held at Arlington Memory Gardens under the direction of Rolfe Funeral Home.

Eugene D. Jones Jr.