Larry Houston Jones, 77, departed this life on Friday, June 21, 2024, at Alma Health and Rehabilitation, with family by his side. A resident of Alma and former resident of De Queen, Larry had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few short months ago.
He was born November 1, 1946, in Monticello, to Ray Houston and Ouida Geraldine Loveless Jones. He graduated in 1964 from Drew Central High School, where his classmates voted him Friendliest, Wittiest, and Mr. Congeniality.
After graduating high school, Larry joined the U.S. Navy so he could see more of the world. He served for seven years (1964 to 1971) and was stationed in California, Florida and Connecticut as well as Spain, Malta and Italy. Not bad for a farm kid from Possum Valley!
While in training at Naval Station Great Lakes, Larry met a fellow seaman apprentice named Ralph Powers. They became instant friends in spite of Ralph’s being a Yankee from Massachusetts, and eventually became brothers-in-law, as Larry married Ralph’s sister Donna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 3, 1968.
After being discharged from the Navy, Larry moved his young family to Arkansas, where he tried his hand at installing swimming pools and working in a TV repair shop. He decided to build on the electronics training he had received in the Navy and enrolled at Southwest Technical Institute in Camden. He received his Associate of Applied Science degree in Electromechanical Technology on August 10, 1973, maintaining a 4.0 GPA while helping to wrangle three children under the age of four years old.
The majority of Larry’s career was spent in the wood products industry. He started his career at Georgia Pacific in Crossett, and later worked short stints for Champion in Texas and South Carolina. He then spent 27 years working for Weyerhaeuser in Dierks, retiring as Process Control Superintendent in 2007.
Larry’s hobbies included gardening, dabbling in photography, and watching sports (especially the Razorbacks and the Boston Celtics). He loved traveling to visit his kids and grandkids, or to vacation with them, from theme parks to national parks and from distilleries to duomos. A trip of a lifetime in recent years was to Alaska to visit one of his high school classmates.
He could fix darn near anything, he built the occasional bunkbeds and bookshelves, and he never met a camera or a tech gadget he didn’t like.
Larry was preceded in death by his beloved grandparents, Benjamin Arthur “Trigger” and Virgie Hickman Loveless; his parents, Ray and Ouida Loveless Jones; his wife, Donna Powers Jones; brothers-in-law Robert, Ralph and Joseph Powers, and Norman Chadwick.
He is survived by his children, Melissa Belur (Satya) of San Jose, Calif., Derek Jones (Andrea) of Tampa, Fla., and Jennifer Jones of Alma; grandsons Logan Jones, Braden Key, Kiran and Aidan Belur, and Tiago Jones. He is also survived by sisters Susie Chadwick and Edna Carpenter; sister-in-law Ada Powers (Jim Muncher); brother-in-law James Powers (Virginia); bonus grandsons Shane and Zach Goettel; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews; and his special neighborhood buddy Loretta McElroy. He leaves behind many friends and classmates from Drew Central High School as well as numerous friends and colleagues from Weyerhaeuser.
Services will be announced at a later date.
