Russell Arden Jones, 80

November 24, 2024

It is with deep sadness that the family of Russell Arden Jones announces his passing at the age of 80, on November 24, 2024.

Russell was born on June 13, 1944, at Hendricks Field Army Air Base in Sebring, Florida. When he was six, Russell’s family moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he later graduated from Douglas Freeman High School before studying Economics and Psychology at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. While working in the college bookstore, he set aside the check a young woman used to purchase her textbooks so he could memorize her name, Ann Roth Gidden.

After graduating in 1966, Russell enlisted in the U.S. Army and served until 1969, when he left as a First Lieutenant. After losing a chess-game bet, Russell joined a friend and moved to Australia. He lived there for two years, working and exploring the outback with his dog Sinbad.

Russell returned to the United States in 1971 with a singular focus. In December, he reunited with Ann in Chicago. The following April, they married and moved to a 75-acre farm in Louisa, Virginia, which he named Churinga, an Aboriginal word he had learned in Australia. Russell would say he could stand on his front porch and all the land in view was his (or, at least, the bank’s). Russell and Ann welcomed their son, Russell (Rusty) Lawrence Jones, in August 1974.

The family moved to the suburbs of Richmond, where they welcomed the birth of their daughter, Eliza Elkins Jones, in October 1976. Two years later they moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and raised their family there as Russell dove into the emerging world of desktop computers, selling the original “black Apple” to school systems across Maryland and Delaware.

In 1982, he and a business associate opened a new store in Salisbury, Maryland, and for more than 20 years, Russell was at the helm of the Computershop (later named Valcom, and then, Inacom). Ann joined the business in 1989, and they persisted through a rapidly changing industry. Russell felt the responsibility of providing not only for his own family but also for those of the many people he employed, and he ran the business with integrity and creativity. Today, Inacom Information Systems continues to thrive.

Russell always said “we work to fund our fun,” and he spent years exploring the Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. After he and Ann moved to a home they called Heron Hill, Russell would often walk to the end of his dock, get in his aluminum boat, and travel to the mouth of the Rewastico Creek to watch the sunset over Penknife Point. He loved the change of seasons. Dogs and other creatures were a delight to him, and he nicknamed the wildlife outside his windows so we could share stories about Otto (the otter) or Ted (the toad). At Heron Hill, Russ returned to beekeeping, a skill he developed in youth, and kept hives well into his 70s, marveling at the creatures’ industry and intelligence.

Russell and Ann sold their business in 2005 and moved full-time the next year to Onancock, Virginia. Onancock brought Russell to an unexpected chapter as Mayor, serving three terms in the elected position and helping usher in a revitalized wharf and a new medical center, among other projects. During those years, Russell acted on a long-held dream of learning to make pottery. He quickly excelled at the artform, spending hours shaping bowls and cups he found pleasing to hand and eye, and became a juried artisan. Eventually, Ann joined him in the craft, and they updated to plural the tagline of Famous Unknown Potters behind Useful Pots.

Russell and Ann moved to Willow Valley Communities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in October 2020. From their new home, sited perfectly to welcome each day’s light, Russell would say that he and Annie were among the luckiest people on Earth. They have enjoyed and appreciated the love of a community that welcomed them with open arms.

Russell is survived by Ann, the love of his life and wife of 52 years, his daughters Eliza E. Canty-Jones and Soomin C. Jones, sons Russell (Rusty) L. Jones and Kevin P. Canty-Jones, grandchildren Abigail G. Jones and Nathaniel I. Jones, older brother Willis (Bill) O. Jones, III, nephew Richard Scott Jones, and sisters-in-law Eliza G. McBride and Lucy Statler as well as a cast of thousands of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and myriad found family members. He loved his family, and one of the many ways he showed it was his habit of putting both hands on our shoulders and looking us in the face to express awe at the joy of our being and of his being with us.

He is preceded in death by his father Willis O. Jones, Jr., mother Frances Elkins Jones, and sisters-in-law Jane Weidhan and Carolyn Jones.

His interment will be a private event for close family. A service to celebrate Russell’s life will be planned for sometime after the start of 2025.

Russell’s family is profoundly grateful for humane kindness shown to him and us by the brilliant and capable Trauma Neuro ICU staff at Lancaster General Hospital and for the outpouring of love and support from near and far. Gifts in Russell’s memory can be donated to Lancaster Conservancy at www.lancasterconservancy.org.