Ray Jones’ life’s work has grown straight up from the soil, with roots deep in the land where he was raised.
Raymond B. Jones, Sr. was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 23, 1935, to engineer Carl T. Jones and his wife Betty. Carl had been forced to leave his home in Huntsville, Alabama because of the depression and found work in Tennessee. In 1939, he moved his family back to Madison County to attempt to revitalize the struggling family engineering business and to farm and raise cattle. He moved his wife, Betty, his son Ray and young daughter Betsy onto a worn-out 2,800-acre farm that he had purchased with his brother Ed as a backup in case their engineering business failed.
It was in 1939 that 4-year-old Ray would first see the farm that he would tend all of his life. As a young man growing up on the farm, Jones tilled the land and herded cattle from before the sunlight shone on the valley until after it had gone away, and each day it bloomed in him a passion for the earth and its bounty.
Interest in agriculture and cattle-raising saw Jones off to Auburn University to study animal science. To make money for tuition, he hatched and raised pheasants to sell to restaurants. After Jones earned his degree and completed his military obligation he returned to Jones Valley in 1957 to manage the farming operations. Over the next decade, the farm flourished. The farm tripled the population of cattle and expanded its acreage with the acquisition of two other farms in Jackson and Marshall Counties.
During this time the farming, real estate, and engineering enterprises had come a long way, but Ray had stayed close to his roots. In one of the most pivotal moments of his life, Jones became president of the family’s engineering firm with the untimely death of his father in 1967. This necessitated his having to run the farms in three counties as well as the consulting engineering business. Founded in 1886 by Jones’s grandfather, G. W. Jones & Sons Consulting Engineers still performs engineering design on a multitude of municipal projects. Roadway, water, wastewater, and airport design, as well as land surveying services, are offered by the firm. Huntsville’s International Airport was designed by the firm and is named for Ray’s father – Carl T. Jones. Following the death of his father, Jones continued to run and expand the farming, real estate, and engineering businesses for the next thirty-five years. Jones continues to be the CEO of G. W. Jones & Sons Consulting Engineers and G. W. Jones and Sons Farms.
In addition to the engineering and farming businesses, Jones has been involved in many other enterprises. He is president of the North Alabama Mineral Development Company, president and CEO of R. B. Jones and Associates, president of Valley Bend at Jones Farm shopping center and is involved in other real estate endeavors ranging from apartment complexes to subdivision developments.
Still, though, Jones’ roots and heart tell him he’s first a farmer, second a businessman. Over the years he has served as president of both the Madison County Cattleman’s Association and the Alabama Cattleman’s Association. A Huntsville Times article entitled “Foremost a Farmer,” describes Jones as a farmer – humble, wise, and unpretentious. “He knows about the uncertainty of tilling the land and he has respect and even reverence for the unpredictable whims of nature. Once a man has that knowledge he can never forget his tiny tentative place in the vast natural universe.”
Jones has received many awards for his business and civic leadership as well as his success and influence in the field of agriculture. He received the “Distinguished Service Award” from the Huntsville Madison County Chamber of Commerce in 2002. He has served on the board of trustees of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee for the last 23 years. In 1999, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is currently serving as Chairman of the University of Alabama Huntsville Foundation. Perhaps the most prestigious recognition in agriculture was when he became the first and still the only Alabamian to be awarded the “Sunbelt Farmer of the Year” in 1996. He was surprised when he won, but no one else was. The chairman of the award’s judging team said Jones “demonstrated all that is good about American agriculture. He has built an outstanding beef cattle operation, relying on the heritage of his forbearers, who were pioneers in this area of Alabama.”
Today the legacy of the G. W. Jones & Sons family is being shared by Ray Jones and his wife Libby with their children. Daughter Lisa and her husband Mark Yokley are both registered engineers. Mark is the current president of the firm. Daughter May and her husband Mike Patterson are involved in the firm. May is a realtor; Mike is a CPA and Chief Financial Officer for the firm. Son Raymond B. Jones, Jr. and wife Kristy are active in the firm. Raymond is a realtor and runs the cattle operations. Kristy is a licensed insurer. The 121-year-old firm that started with his grandfather continues through Jones and his children.
Jones related this quote in an interview for a newspaper article some years ago. “We are, all of us, the recipients of the courage, hard work, and vision that has come down to us from our forefathers. Our duty is to build on that heritage while invoking the blessings of our heavenly Father and always giving thanks to Him for the privilege of living in this great land that we call America.”
