18-jerry-jones-dayPROCLAMATION NO. 2003-18
WHEREAS Willie Jerry Jones, Sr. is the owner-manager of Willie Jerry Jones Insurance and Bonding Agency in Huntsville, Texas. Jerry was born on January 4, 1925 to Jereline McGuire Jones
and the late Jerome Jones. He was president of his high school class and participated in political debates. Jerry graduated from Samuel Walker Houston High School in 1943, marrying
Mary B. Travis in the same year; and
WHEREAS Jerry served two years as a seaman in the United States Navy, the only man accepted of fifty applying for induction, spending a great deal of time in the Pearl Harbor arena;
and
WHEREAS Jerry returned to Huntsville after serving his country where he worked as a barber and enrolled in extension courses at Mary Allen College and Texas Southern University; and
WHEREAS Jerry became active in social, economic and political affairs during the early 1960s. Having demonstrated great potential for leadership in his high school years, he was key
in establishing the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in June 1961. Jerry was elected president of the initial Board of Directors
of the local chapter; and
WHEREAS Jerry and his late wife, Mary, are the parents of four children – Willie Jerry Jones, Jr., Robert Jerome Jones, Darlene Jones Bass and Dianne Jones Mitchell, and have numerous
grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and
WHEREAS Jerry has received numerous honors from the Theta Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Sam Houston State University, and special tributes from the Huntsville City Council
and the Roxie Douglas Foundation; and
WHEREAS Jerry is an active member of St. James United Methodist Church, the National Alumni Association of Sam Houston High School, the National Alumni Association of Mary Allen College,
and the Regional President and a life/charter member of the NAACP;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED, by the power vested in me
Mayor of the City of Huntsville, Texas that:
May 10, 2003
be declared:
WILLIE JERRY JONES, SR. DAY
in Huntsville, Texas, in recognition of his outstanding community and civic leadership .
PROCLAIMED AND SIGNED this the 10th day of May 2003.
_____________________________
KARL DAVIDSON, MAYOR