Roger Jones' Obituary
ROGER JONES 1936 - 2020 Rappahannock County resident Roger Jones, 84, passed away suddenly on Saturday, June 6, 2020 at his residence near Sperryville, VA. Roger grew up in Truman, a small town in southern Minnesota. He attended St. Olaf College and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a major in psychology. Roger was a dedicated member of the U of MN marching band, playing his beloved trombone, and his love of music continued throughout his life. Following graduation Roger joined the US Army and studied German at the Army Language School in Monterey CA; he spent the rest of his military career with the Counter Intelligence Corps in Germany. He returned to the US and joined the CIA, working for a few years both in Washington DC and New York City. Roger then decided to start his own business called “College Graduates Club,” a social club offering gatherings to single people in the Washington DC area, Part of that business eventually transformed into another venture, “Ski Trips Unlimited,” which offered group trips to ski destinations in Canada, Colorado, New England but primarily to Seven Springs Resort in western Pennsylvania. Roger retired from the ski trip business in 2000, and began to spend more time on his property in Rappahannock County VA as well as on a ranch in Montana, developing the properties into nature preserves. Most of Roger’s activities revolved around his love of raptors such as kestrels, hawks, eagles and owls. For more than 40 years he was a Master Bander; in that capacity he was authorized by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to band and record data for thousands of birds in Virginia, Minnesota, and Montana. In doing so he contributed much information, measuring the migration and population patterns of raptors. Roger installed and regularly maintained bird boxes for American Kestrels, Eastern Bluebirds, and Barn Owls across the country in Rappahannock County, southern Minnesota, and Montana. Roger also enjoyed travel and managed to see all seven continents, visiting nature sanctuaries all over the world. Roger was a lover of animals and his home town, Truman, in Minnesota. He was a keeper of statistics, a giver of parties, a player of games, a collector of friends, a taker of risks; he loved to organize competitions, plan wildlife adventure trips, place bets, orchestrate surprises, make and sustain lifelong connections. Two of his favorite songs were “Precious Friend” by Pete Seeger and “Take It to the Limit” by the Eagles. He will be missed by many.
Roger is survived by his daughter Paula (Faisal Albanna) of Haymarket, VA, and son Mitchell of Falls Church, VA. He will be missed by his loving companion Janine Moseley, his sister Margaret (Don) Schumsky of Seattle WA, his brothers Bruce (Susan) Jones of Washington VA and Tom (Glenice) Jones of Minneapolis MN. He also leaves two grandchildren, Ghazi and Gabriella Albanna and his former wife, Doris Jones of Woodville VA, along with many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Arlo “Casey” Jones and Evelyn Sund Jones.
A small private family gathering to remember Roger will be held later in June at his home in Rappahannock County.
Contributions in memory of Roger may be made to: Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Ithaca, NY. 14850 or Virginia Society of Ornithology P O Box 5994 Williamsburg, VA. 23188.
Found and Sons Funeral Chapel of Culpeper is serving the family.
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