Obituary - Oliver A. Jones

Death Takes Oliver Jones, Pioneer Of Potlatch Area

Oliver A. Jones one of the first white children born in the Potlatch area and a farmer for 70 years, died at 3:20 a.m. yesterday at Tri-State Memorial Hospital after a one-week bout with pneumonia. He was 92.

Jones never retired from farming. Though he had sold his last farm in 1961, he continued to grow vegetables near his home at Asotin Creek, which he sold in 1961 when he moved to town. His first farm, after ranching with his father, was at Culdesac from 1901 to 1907. Through the years he farmed near Boise, at Canyonville and Roseburg, Ore., on Magpie Creek near Cottonwood, near Lewiston and at Orofino. His longest stay at one place was 25 years on Magpie Creek.

His main interest was truck gardening but he also raised chickens and prided himself on his ability to make a syrup squeezed from sugar cane. He left farming only once - when the railroad was being constructed at Spalding and Greer.

He was born Aug. 11, 1879, on Deep Creek, two miles west of Potlatch, the first white boy and second white child born in the area. His father, Elbert W. Jones, had fought in the Nez Perce War of 1877 under Gen. O.O. Howard. His parents moved to Magpie Creek when he was a child.

He first visited the Lewiston-Clarkston area when he was 5, a time when Lewiston was just open fields and scattered homes.

He married Mary E. McFall Oct. 22, 1901, at Clarkston. The couple, who had seven children, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last fall. She survives at home. Jones was a member of the Clarkston Church of Christ.

Other survivors include two daughters, Mrs. Stella Adams, Asotin, and Mrs. Velma Mae Schimnowski, Lewiston; two sons, Robert Jones, Escondido, Calif., and Clifton Jones, Cottonwood, Calif.; 10 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Three sons preceded him in death.

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Brower-Wann Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Leonard A. Hanold of the Clarkston Church of Christ officiating.

Burial will be at Normal Hill Cemetery.

Lewiston Morning Tribune, Tuesday, July 4, 1972, p. 7
Transcribed by Kerry Kasza