Omega Frater G. H. Jones, dies at 100

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G.H. Jones was the kind of man people sought out when they needed to get things done.

“He was an all-around and often self-appointed volunteer,” said his daughter, Dr. Cassandra J. Ndiforchu of Los Angeles.

Jones, who turned 100 in November, died Friday of respiratory failure.

He was active right up until his death, his daughter said.

“Friday morning, he was singing,” she said.

Jones spent 38 years teaching science, most of them at his alma mater, Jones High School. He retired from the school system in 1976.

But while he loved science and enjoyed tinkering, his real love was working with numbers, and he often found himself working on a finance committee for the organization with which he was involved, Ndiforchu said.

He carried around a pouch filled with pens and pencils, she said.

Jones was one of the founding members of Shiloh Baptist Church of Orlando, where his uncle, the Rev. Alan Arnett, was the first pastor. Over the years he served as superintendent of its Sunday school, ran the summer Bible school and served on the finance committee at the church, his daughter said.

He celebrated his 100th birthday at the church Nov. 22, which was proclaimed G.H. Jones Day by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. Among his letters of congratulations was one from President Barack Obama.

Over the years, Jones started a Boy Scout troop and volunteered for Meals on Wheels.

While attending Florida A&M University, Jones was a founding member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity and later helped found the fraternity’s Chi Tau Chapter in Orlando.

Ndiforchu said she holds dear the words of longtime Jones High band director James W. “Chief” Wilson: “When things needed to be done and needed to be done in great detail, people turned to G.H. Jones. He was willing and focused.”

Jones also is survived by one son, A. Lanier Jones of Tallahassee; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

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