Petersburg Pilot -

Dennis Lowell Jones, Sr, died, peacefully, in his sleep on December 7th. He was born June 30, 1945, the 3rd of 4 children to Delmer and Mae (Gilmore) Jones, in Medford, Oregon.

Their family lived in Shady Cove where his Dad was a logger.

Dennis' family moved to Corning, CA, in northern California, when Dennis was 5.

He always liked to work and earn his own money. He started a lawn mowing business when his Dad loaned him money for a lawn mower at age 10. He mowed lawns all over Corning. He had a newspaper route and rode his bike through town delivering the Corning Daily Observer. In high school, he hauled hay, milked cows and other miscellaneous jobs in the summers.

At 19, he married Velma Webster. They had 3 wonderful kids, Sherri, Dennis, Jr, and Shane.

To support his family he hauled hay with his own truck, drilled natural gas wells for a drilling company, worked on the Oroville Dam and at several mills. He set chokers for Crane Mills in Paskenta, CA, and other things.

In 1969, their family moved to Sweet Home, Oregon. He worked at Willamette Industries and Boise Cascade while there.

In 1974, Dennis moved with his kids to Petersburg, Alaska. He went to work for Dick McKay at Petersburg Fisheries, doing construction. When Dick took Dennis to Ninilchik, Alaska, to help install a crab line and get the boilers going, Dennis fell in love with "life up North". He moved his family there, where they lived for 4 years.

In 1981, Dick asked Dennis to come back to Petersburg to get the Fish Meal Plant running again at Petersburg Fisheries. Dennis had helped set up and get the plant running in 1974. He arrived, with his kids, on January 3rd, 1981, Dick's daughter, Kellie's, 21st birthday. With his kids playing matchmakers, they started dating and married a year later. Dennis and his kids had bought and were living on a boat, the Athero, a British military patrol boat built on the Yangtze River, China, in 1912. Kellie joined the family on the boat and they have fun memories of boat life that first year.

Dennis and Kellie added a baby girl, Sara, to the family on Christmas Day, 1983. They moved out to 6 mile and raised their kids in Petersburg. All 4 kids graduated from Petersburg High School.

Besides getting wood for himself and others, Dennis' passion was salvaging at the Dump. You could almost always find him there on a Sunday digging through the trash for treasures.

Dennis was preceded in death by his parents, Delmer and Mae Jones, sister, Kathleen "Kitty" and his brother, Delwin, and infant daughter, Angela Jones.

He is survived by his wife Kellie, children, Sherri (Leroy) Shelman, Dennis (Gwynne) Jones, Jr, Shane Jones, and Sara (Ray) Stoner, 8 grandkids Cassie (Michael) Schrock, Jennifer (Tim) Medford, Melissa (Jason) Panasuk, Lorissa (Joe) Cawood, McKay, Zander and Waylon Jones, and Mae Stoner and 10 great-grandkids Kate, Zoe, Rylan, Evan, Autumn and Liam Schrock and Melany and Emily Cawood, brother, Darrell (Graceanne) Jones and numerous nieces and nephews.

A graveside service was held at the Petersburg Cemetery on December 11th with a "3 o'clock Coffee Break" at Petersburg Fisheries (OBI) cookhouse, following.

Dennis' life was all about God and his family. He will be missed.