Roll Call Tribute

Donald Hinton Jones

February 17, 1939 - December 4, 2022

Donald Hinton “Don” Jones, age 83, passed away peacefully on December 4, 2022, surrounded by his family. Don was born on February 17, 1939, in Houston, Texas. He spent his early childhood in Rosenberg, Texas. As a teenager, Don proudly attended five high schools throughout Texas, including Rosenberg, Brenham, Donna, McAllen, and Bellaire. He played football, basketball, and baseball as a small but gifted athlete. According to Don, his greatest accomplishment was meeting the love of his life and future wife, Suzann Seidel, in tenth grade while at Brenham High School.

After graduation, Don attended Texas A&M University (Class of '61), was a member of the Corps of Cadets, and lettered as the football team manager. He graduated with a degree in Architectural Construction and received the Gene Murphree Award for being his class's most outstanding construction student.

In 1964, Don and Suzann moved to Houston, where he started a 35-year career with W.S. Bellows Construction. During his career, Don's projects included several NASA buildings (the Mission Simulation Facility and the Centrifuge Building), the first seven Target stores in Texas, luxury hotels, 25 buildings at Fort Hood at the outbreak of Vietnam, Anheuser-Busch Gardens, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Bayou Bend Museum renovation, The Houstonian, and many projects for Compaq Computer Corporation.

Don was very active in the Associated General Contracts organization. He served as the President of the Houston Chapter in 1990 and 1991, as a board member for six years, and as President of the Texas Building Branch in 1994.

In recognition of all these contributions in the construction field, Don was named Texas A&M's College of Architecture Outstanding Alumni.

When relaxing, he enjoyed playing cards and dominos, fishing, and hunting. Upon his retirement in 1999, Don and Suzann moved from Houston to their ranch in Brenham. During the many years on the Texian Ranch, they hosted Arnold Family reunions, Brenham High School Class of 1957 reunions, and Texas A&M Football Class of 1961 reunions. Never idle, Don served on the boards of Blinn College and the Brenham Heritage Society. In 2021, Don and Suzann moved to College Station, just a few miles from his beloved alma mater.

Don was preceded in death by his parents Betty Louise Arnold (Louise) and Alexander Donald Jones (A.D.), and two brothers, A.D. Jones Jr. and Temple Evans Jones.

Don is survived by his wife of 62 years, Suzann Seidel Jones, his son Russell and daughter-in-law Mary, his daughter Jill and son-in-law Mark Rome, grandchildren Meredith and Cason Jones, Paxton and Hayden Rome, Mary's children Sarah McKirahan and John McKirahan, as well as godchildren Elena Serafine Zelco and Brian Serafine. Don is also survived by his sister Marilyn, her husband Brian Webster, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A visitation is planned from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM, Friday, December 9, 2022, at Brenham Memorial Chapel, 2300 Stringer Street, Brenham, Texas, 77833. The funeral service will be held the next day, Saturday, December 10, 2022, at 11:00 AM at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 305 West Third, Brenham, Texas, 77833.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that friends consider a donation to the Robert Conte Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Inc. at 17850 Rock Prairie Road, College Station, TX 77845 www.robertcontefoundation.org (or to help on the national level, consider a gift to the Parkinson Foundation at www.parkinson.org).