Fred W. Jones Jr.

Fred W. Jones Jr. (October 24, 1924 – October 22, 2000) was a judge of three levels of court in his native U.S. state of Louisiana, based in Ruston in Lincoln Parish.

Background

A native of Rayville in Richland Parish in North Louisiana,^[1]

Jones graduated from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1949.^[2] Jones served in the United States Army during World War II and was an assistant staff judge advocate in the Korean War.^[3]

Jones was married to the former Anelle Swetman (1927–2009), a daughter of Emory G. Swetman (1901–1963) and the late Ruby F. Stringer Swetman. Jones was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis International. He was a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Ruston and a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.^[1] In their later years, they were members of a non-Southern Baptist congregation, the Northminster Church in Monroe, Louisiana. The Joneses had three daughters, Sherryl J. Tucker and husband, Robert, of Baton Rouge, Denise J. Wiltcher and husband, Thomas, of Amarillo, Texas, and Michelle J. Barker and husband, Mark, of Knoxville, Tennessee. There are also three grandchildren.

Career

Jones held the elected position of Ruston city judge from December 1954 until 1966, when he then became judge of the Louisiana 3rd Judicial District for Lincoln and Union parishes, based in Ruston.^[3] In 1975, Judge Jones ran for the first time, unsuccessfully, for the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal, based in Shreveport and encompassing nine parishes. He lost to fellow Democrat Charles A. Marvin, a native of Jonesville in Catahoula Parish who had briefly resided in Jones' Richland Parish but was then the district attorney of Bossier and Webster parishes.^[4] In the nine-parish race, Marvin polled 16,106 votes; Jones, 14,521. There was no Republican candidate. Marvin succeeded the retiring Judge H. Welborn Ayres, a native of Natchitoches Parish, who retired at the mandatory age of seventy-five.^[5] In 1980, Jones was elected to the Circuit Court of Appeal as a colleague of Judge Marvin. He retired from the court in December 1990.^[3]

Jones was a member of the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges and the American Judicature Society.^[4] He often spoke out in public forums on the breakdown of the American family. "The most effective deterrent of crime in this country is the strengthening of family ties ... bringing the people of a family together."^[1] Similar remarks were often made by other state court judges, including James E. Bolin of Minden^[6] and George W. Hardy Jr. of Shreveport.^[7]

Jones died two days before his 76th birthday.^[3]

References