Dero Clayton (Sam) Jones

Dero Clayton (Sam) Jones, 85, passed away on April 16, 2009. Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Monday, April 20, 2009 at Scott’s Funeral Home Chapel with burial following at Restland Cemetery. The family will receive friends an hour prior to the service on Monday. Dero C. (Sam) Jones was born October 10, 1923 to Dero B. and Mittie Lee (Crow) Jones near Gatesville, TX. His family came to Coryell County in the early 1850’s. He attended school in Turnersville, TX and joined the Navy in 1942. He served as a tail gunner in the Pacific and was wounded in combat. After WWII he worked in the oilfield in West Texas where he was nicknamed Sam. He married Lois I. Eldred on July 22, 1952. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1964 where he worked for the nuclear test site. His career in drilling took him to Norway in 1971 where he worked offshore. Serving as a drilling superintendent and manager, he worked in Australia, Libya, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Spain, Scotland and other countries around the globe. He and Lois made many friends wherever they went. Dero was preceded in death by his wife, Lois “Nonie” Jones; four sisters, Lovie Blankenship, Bertha Clement, Irene Hardie, and Vada Holtzclaw, and a younger brother, Bruce Gerald Jones. He is survived by two daughters, Sherri D. Davis and husband Gary J. of Austin and Carolyn Claggett and husband Robert J. of Hewitt; 6 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Pallbearers are Clifton Davis, Warren Burnett, Jonathan Burleson, Scot Hardie, Glen Blankenship, and Bruce Jones, Jr. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 15186, Austin, TX 78761.