Jeff was the youngest of three siblings born to Mike and Marcy Jones. The family moved quite a bit in their younger years and this really forged a strong bond of love and friendship between the siblings- Michael, Jeff, and Debbie.
Always quite the character, Jeff was brilliant, quick-witted and passionate about his friends and music. He especially loved song lyrics. Jeff was a student of words, literature and writing so it was no surprise to those that knew him when he declared that after graduation from Phoenixville Area High School in 1986 he was planning to major in English at the University of Delaware. His dream was to publish a novel- even deciding on the pen name of Samuel Dakota- and he planned to support himself writing greeting cards for Hallmark.
The summer before his sophomore year at the University of Delaware, Jeff had chronic and debilitating headaches. After he went in for testing, his family learned that Jeff had a large brain tumor. The doctors said a lot of scary words and quickly they learned what a pinealblastoma was and how chemotherapy makes one feel and how radiation is so strong that it makes people wonder which is worse- cancer or the treatments. Through all of this and despite his loss of hair, appetite, and feeling in his feet, Jeff kept his spirits high and was always the first to find something funny to say or to make people laugh. He loved his family and his friends HUGE!
On February 25, 1989, after almost 18 months of hard fought battle against the invader in his body, Jeff passed away quietly with his parents at his side. He was twenty years old. Soon after, in 1990, his friends decided to hold a fundraiser in his memory and started the Jeffrey Allan Jones Memorial Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is awarded annually to a high achieving senior who plans to pursue a degree in either English, Journalism (Jeff wrote for the Evening Phoenix newspaper while a student at Phoenixville High School), or Communications.
This scholarship is important to those that knew and loved Jeff and because it honors him and keeps his memory alive. His family and friends believe that it is important to support young people in the community as they go off looking for what makes them happy and this scholarship does just that. Every year at graduation time, folks are reminded that Jeff was here and that he still matters very much.
“Life, is Fair….” -Jeff Jones 1985