Jones, William
JONES, Jr., William Donald
(January 6, 1932, to July 3, 2021)
William Donald Jones, Jr., loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, died peacefully in his home at Carlyle Place in Macon, Georgia, on July 3, 2021. He was eighty-nine years old.
Son of the late William Donald Jones, Sr., and Ethel Chambley Jones, Bill was born and raised in the greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. After attending Central High School and Germantown Academy, he matriculated at Swarthmore College, where he was a three-sport athlete, starring on the football, basketball, and track-and-field teams for his beloved Garnet. He earned two silver medals in the javelin at the prestigious Penn Relays and in his senior year won the Kwink Trophy as the best overall athlete at Swarthmore. He graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics.
It was at Swarthmore where he met his future wife and love of his life, Margery ("Margie") Paxson. After she graduated from college, the two were married in a Quaker ceremony in 1956. They started their lives together in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, where Bill was stationed in the Army. Eventually they settled in Wallingford and then Media, Pennsylvania, where Bill began a long and successful career in the banking and financial services industries, while also earning his Master's Degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Bill began his career at First Pennsylvania Bank, followed by a stint at Girard Bank.
In 1971 he received an offer to lead the Trust Department at the First National Bank of Atlanta, and the family moved to Georgia. Except for a brief hiatus in Greenwich, Connecticut, when Bill accepted a position with Irving Trust on Wall Street in New York City, he and Margie lived in Atlanta until 1995; after Bill retired from Wellington Management (where he had worked since returning to Atlanta from Greenwich), they moved full-time to Hilton Head. An avid and skilled golfer, Bill was often found on the course during his retirement, in addition to spending time reading, watching Atlanta sports teams, throwing tennis balls to cherished Border Collies, and traveling to Europe whenever possible. What he loved most of all was spending time with his family. Eventually Bill and Margie split time between Hilton Head and Carlyle Place.
Bill is survived by his beloved wife of sixty-five years, Margery, and their three children and their families, including five grandchildren and one great-grandson: William Donald Jones, III (Terri) of Hilton Head, South Carolina; Todd Edward Jones (Joann) of Atlanta, Georgia, and their children, Todd, Jr., Meredith Mezacapa (Victor) and their son, Victor Mezacapa V, and Emma; and Cindy Jones Neal of Atlanta, Georgia, and her two children, Zach and Eliza. Bill is also survived by his brother, Donald Robert Jones (Connie) of Media, Pennsylvania, and was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Mary Foster.
The immediate family will hold a private service in Hilton Head in celebration of Bill's life.
