James Jackson Jones, Jr. December 24, 1933 - April 6, 2024

James Jackson Jones, Jr. passed away at the age of 90 on April 6, 2024 after living a wonderful, full life.

James was born December 24,1933 in Montebello, California to Ruth Margaret Sayre and James Jackson Jones, Sr. He was the oldest of three children. He lived with his family in the Los Angeles, California area until he was 12 years old, when they moved to Hawaii. He loved and excelled in sports and especially loved baseball.

From the time he was a young child, James was interested in the great purpose of life and asked many religious leaders the questions he had about God. No one could give him the answers to his questions. When he was 17 years old, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on his family’s door in Hawaii. James was not interested in what they had to say and wouldn’t meet with them, until one day, one of the missionaries knocked on his bedroom door. When he read the Book of Mormon and heard the Gospel message, he knew they were true and knew he had found the answers he had been searching for. He and his family were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 29, 1952. From then on, and throughout the rest of his life, he was a dedicated servant of the Lord.

After graduating from University High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, James went to Brigham Young University, in Utah, for one year and then decided to serve a full-time proselytizing mission for his church. He was called to serve a 3 ⅓ year mission to Japan, which was part of the Northern Far East mission. He excelled as a missionary, district president, counselor to the mission president and branch president. He was beloved by the people he taught and worked with. During the time he was serving in the Tokyo area, he got pneumonia and wrote a mission teaching program booklet which was used by the missionaries for many years. One of his favorite memories was singing the hymn, “Love at Home” in Japanese, before each cottage meeting with investigators. He recalled, “We didn’t sing very well but we were loud!!!”

After his mission, James went back to BYU and met his future wife Lillie. They were married December 19, 1959 in the Manti, Utah temple. He graduated from BYU with a major in political science and a teaching certificate. After graduation, they moved to Orange County, California, where they lived for 40 years. In 2005, they moved to Central Valley, Utah and, later, Woodland Hills, Utah. James and Lillie had six children, two of whom only lived a few days.

James had a strong, burning testimony of the Gospel and of his Savior, Jesus Christ and faithfully served in the church his entire life. He was called to be a bishop in Anaheim, California for 7 ½ years and later served as bishop of a young adult congregation in Huntington Beach, California for 3 years. He served in many leadership positions and especially enjoyed working in the Los Angeles, California and Manti and Payson, Utah temples for many years.

James was always very patriotic and loved his country. After his mission, he went home to Hawaii and joined the US Army. He was in the Schofield army area in Honolulu for six months. He was active in the National Guard for many years. He graduated from the U.S. Army’s officer’s candidate school and became a Second Lieutenant and graduated from artillery school. He retired from the military when he was called to be a bishop in Anaheim, California.

James loved guns, baseball, and setting off fireworks, was an avid BYU football fan, loved airplanes and even flew two of his own planes.

James was a teacher, real estate broker and businessman. In later years, James earned MS and PHD degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy and, hoping to reach more families, began teaching parenting in Southern California. He taught at BYU Education Week for 26 years and traveled all over the US and Canada teaching his “Let’s Fix the Kids!” parenting classes and seminars for free. He wrote and published three parenting books and produced cassette tapes and later CDs on parenting. James was a powerful teacher, and a phenomenal speaker and parent educator. His audiences would alternate between laughing uproariously and being deeply moved. Hearing James teach was life changing and he was beloved and revered by thousands.

James is survived by Lillie, his sweetheart of 65 years, his children, James Jones (Janette), Angela Meyers (Michael), David Jones (Brenda),Daniel Jones (Cyndi), 11 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, and his sisters, Junene Briggs and Cherrie Jones. He was preceded in death by, and is now reunited with, his mother, Ruth Margaret Sayre, his father, James Jackson Jones, Sr., his daughter, Lorelie Gail Jones and his son, Nathanael Paul Jones.

Family and friends may pay their respects at the funeral services held at 12:00 PM on April 13th in the LDS Meeting House located at 220 South, Woodland Hills, Utah.

 Service Information

Saturday April 13, 2024

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

220 South Woodland Hills Drive, Woodland Hills, Utah

Viewing:  10:45 – 11 :45 A.M.

Family Prayer:  11:45 A.M – 12 Noon

Service:  12:00 Noon

Interment

April 13th, 2024, 1:30 P.M.

Spanish Fork Cemetery

420 South 400 East, Spanish Fork, Utah