Don Michie Jones

Don Michie Jones “turned in his badge” on Tuesday June 14, 2022, just 3 weeks short of his 90th birthday at his home in Washington, Utah. Don was born on July 8, 1932 in Provo, Utah to Hyrum Rollo Jones and Preal Frances Michie. He was the youngest of eleven children, 5 brothers and 5 sisters. His father passed away when he was just 15 months old, leaving his mother to raise their children. He had a great love and appreciation for his mom, whose love and prayers he credits for many of the blessings in his life. He attended school in Provo and Orem, Utah and Big Piney, Wyoming graduating from Lincoln High School in Orem, Utah in 1950. He then entered Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. During his college years he helped organize and participated in the first rodeo team to represent BYU in intercollegiate competition and served as Rodeo Club President. When asked about which events he competed in, he said he tried bull riding 3 times and only managed to stay on once. One out of three was not a very good average so he stuck with saddle bronc riding and bulldogging. His college experience was interrupted twice by calls for service. Once to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Texas and Louisiana Mission and once to serve two years in the United States Army at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Riley, Kansas. Upon returning to college, he graduated from BYU in 1961 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. While at BYU Don met Donna Lee Neubert. He said of their first meeting, “she shook my hand and I just held on. I wouldn’t let her go.” They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 8, 1956. Over the years they welcomed seven children, one son and six daughters. After graduating Don went to work for the North American Aviation Corporation, Autonetics Division, in Los Angeles, California. There he was trained with the first formal class conducted by the company on Minuteman Weapon System equipment. Upon completion he was assigned to Boeing in Seattle, Washington to be an instructor at the Minuteman Training Center where he taught Minuteman Automatic Test Equipment for 2 ½ years. Leaving the training center in 1964, he returned to California and worked for a short period on the Apollo Space Program before joining the Technical Staff of Space Technology Laboratory, a division of TRW. In 1965 he accepted a position with the Air Force in the Engineering Division at Hill AFB, Utah. He first worked on the guidance and flight control section for the Minuteman and then the Titan II missiles. He was awarded a Significant Achievement for reducing failures and repair costs of the gyros used in the Titan II guidance system. He was then put into various management positions with oversight of significant budgets and personnel. First, as the program manager for the modernization of the Minuteman test facility. Upon completion of the modernization, he was assigned as supervisor of the Nuclear Harness and Survivability Section. In this capacity, he had oversight responsibility for all the activities necessary for assuring the nuclear hardness integrity of the Air Forces’ Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force, both Minuteman and Titan II. He finished his career with the Air Force as the Minuteman Weapon System Engineer and Chief of the system engineering section. After retiring from the base, Don started his own business consulting with companies, bidding on government contracts and fulfilling some government subcontracts. Don loved to hunt and fish. Summers always included a two week trip to the Uinta mountains where, over time, he patiently taught all seven children to fly fish, no small feat. Good times were had and many happy memories created with a few episodes of removing one child’s fish hook from another child or dodging a flaming marshmallow mixed in for good measure. Fall found him with extended family in his big wall tent on “The Ridge” for the hunt, where no season seemed complete without an arduous trek into Hell Hole to retrieve someone’s deer. A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Don served in many capacities. In addition to his mission to Texas, he served a mission with Donna in the Freiberg East German Temple. He also served as a Stake missionary in Kansas and again in the Seattle area where he was ordained a Seventy by Elder Gordon B Hinkley. Other callings included High Priest Group Leader and Temple Worker. He also taught many classes including Gospel Doctrine, Temple Preparation and Marriage and Family Relations. He gained a love for Family History as he fielded calls from all over the world as a Genealogy Consultant. After the passing of his first wife Donna, he married Judi Jones and moved to Levan, Utah where they lived for four years before moving to St George, Utah. They had a lot of laughs and enjoyed seven years together before her death in October of 2021. Don is survived by his son, Teak Jones of Layton; and daughters, Michidawn (Stephen) Ubelhor of Pleasant View; Kracyn (Shane) Leslie of Pleasant View; Terica Turner of Ogden; Cendra Ipsen of Pleasant View; RaQuett (Greg) Stroud of Pleasant View; 25 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Donna, his wife Judi, his daughter Tyana Knight and his grandson Jon Turner. The family would like to offer special thanks to Sheila Butterfield for months of visits and meals and to Don’s caregivers Codi Hale, Becky Price and the team from Dixie Home Rehab & Hospice. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 11:00 am at the chapel located at 900 W Pleasant View Dr Pleasant View, Utah. A viewing will be held prior to the memorial service from 9:00 to 10:45. Following the services interment will be at the Ben Lomond Cemetery. In Don’s honor say a kind word, do a kind deed, uplift someone around you, champion the underdog, give hope to the hopeless or offer to help someone understand the healing power of love and faith.

Don Michie Jones

July 8, 1932 - June 14, 2022