Mr. Jones was born in Englewood, New Jersey, to Louise (Wyman) and DeWitt C. Jones Jr. His family were summer residents in Quissett and he traced his local roots to the Crosby, Gifford and Crowell families, some of Falmouth’s earliest settlers. He was a direct descendent of DeWitt Clinton, former mayor of New York City, governor of New York and father of the Erie Canal.

He graduated from the Loomis School in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1940 and entered Princeton University that fall. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he interrupted his studies and enlisted in the Air Force in 1942.

Mr. Jones trained as a B-24 navigator and was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1943 when he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, 453rd Bomb Group, 732rd Bomb Squadron. His outfit was based in East Anglia, England. Based on his record as a navigator, his plane was selected to be one of the lead bombers supporting the invasion of France on D-Day.

After his initial tour, he was promoted to intelligence officer, where he briefed other navigators on each mission. During this time, his executive officer was the actor Jimmy Stewart. They were able to share stories both of Falmouth, where Mr. Stewart had been a member of the University Players in West Falmouth in the 1930s, and Princeton, where both had studied architecture.

During the one mission when Mr. Jones was on rest and recuperation from a cold, his bomber crew was shot down over Europe. All but the pilot survived, but the crew members spent the next 12 or 13 months as prisoners of war. It was only a quirk of fate that enabled Mr. Jones to keep on flying bombing missions against the Germans. Eventually, Mr. Jones flew 31 missions in Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

With the end of the war in Europe, he was ordered to the South Pacific. While en route through the US, the war ended. He was decommissioned in September and able to make a quick visit to Quissett at the end of the summer.

He returned to Princeton, graduating in 1948, and then took a job teaching at Loomis. For the next seven years, he taught mathematics, coached soccer and was a dorm master at Loomis. He earned a Master’s in Education from Harvard University in 1956.

Mr. Jones continued to spend his summers in Quissett, where he met the woman who would become his wife, Margaret Hanna. He and Ms. Hanna, who goes by Megan, wed in August 1952.

In 1955, anticipating the spirit that several years later established the Peace Corps, he and his wife decided to spend a year teaching in Istanbul, Turkey. Mr. Jones taught math at Robert College and Ms. Jones was a 2nd grade teacher in the local school. During their time out of the country, Mr. Jones used mail service to apply for job openings throughout the East Coast and was delighted when offered a job teaching 7th and 8th grade math in Falmouth. He and his wife returned to their summer community, purchasing a house on Siders Pond, where Mr. Jones lived until his death.

Beginning in 1957, Mr. Jones taught math at Lawrence and Falmouth high schools, where he took on additional administrative responsibilities. For many years, he managed the course scheduling, which was one of the first uses of computers in the school system. He was the director of the Falmouth Summer School for five years and was named a house administrator when Falmouth High School opened in 1973. During his tenure with the school system, he was advisor to the American Field Service, Model UN, and several senior classes. He retired in 1988.

Mr. Jones was a firm believer that a vibrant and equitable community required an active, educated and engaged citizenry. He took this obligation seriously and enjoyed both formal and informal roles in a wide range of civic activities in Falmouth.

He was a Town Meeting member for nearly 50 years, often serving as precinct chairman. He was elected to the planning board for several terms in the 1960s and 1970s and, later, to the school committee after he retired. He served on many boards and committees, including the Woods Hole library board and as a founding board member of Neighborhood Falmouth. For years, he organized Christmas caroling on the Village Green with his friend and colleague, Gene Phillips. The Falmouth Historical Society recognized Dick and Megan Jones for their civic roles with its 2010 Falmouth Heritage Award.

An active Democratic with a keen interest in progressive politics, he helped organize the local resettlement and welcoming efforts through the NAACP for the Reverse Freedom Fighters in 1962. He was a worker in many political campaigns, including those for Dick Kendall, George S. McGovern, William J. Clinton, Barack H. Obama and, more recently, his son, Falmouth Selectman Douglas H. Jones.

For years on election day he could be found holding signs for his candidate at Watson’s Corner (corner of Main and Locust streets). He participated in many political marches in Washington, DC—including those supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and opposing the Vietnam War—often working with his friends Red and Mary Wright to arrange buses for local marchers.

Mr. Jones maintained a lifelong love for sailing and Quissett, his first connection to Falmouth. He and his family created many of the traditions that have become beloved by all ages in that community. For decades he organized the annual Quissett Water Sports, ran its annual Quissett Yacht Club ball, and served as commodore of the yacht club from 1979 to 1981.

In his role as Mayor of Quissett, Mr. Jones was pleased to host the Lord Mayor of Falmouth, England, when he came to Falmouth for a visit in the 1990s.

He enjoyed traveling and, with his wife, traveled extensively in the US and abroad, in particular visiting Russia and revisiting Turkey 40 years after their year teaching there. He had a special fondness for Scotland, the home of his stepgrandfather, Marshall Goold. Just after graduating from college, Mr. Jones spent a summer biking through England and Scotland and enjoyed getting to know his Goold cousins. In the 1990s, he was delighted to revisit with Jimmy Goold, his host from 1948, and amazed that Jimmy was now James, Lord Goold of Westfoot.

Mr. Jones was very fond of theater, especially the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. He was the president of Theatre Intime at Princeton as an undergraduate and faculty advisor for many productions at Loomis. As a young man, he worked backstage at the Falmouth Playhouse and was able to make use of his military experience in roles such as a spear-carrying soldier in “Caesar and Cleopatra,” with Paulette Goddard and as a rifle-carrying soldier in “The Devil’s Disciple,” with Maurice Evans.

Over the years, Mr. Jones had many bit parts or walk-ons in local theatricals; he worked with the Penzance Players in Noel Coward’s “Tonight at Eight-Thirty” and in Falmouth High School musicals as three different waiters in “Guys and Dolls.” He was Caesar Rodney in the town’s bicentennial production of “1776.”

A founding board member of the College Light Opera Company, he served as its board chairman for more than 30 years. He was an enthusiastic and supportive audience member, regularly taking company members sailing on their infrequent days off and leading standing ovations for an occasional underappreciated cast. He chronicled Falmouth’s theater history in 1995 for Spritsail.

In addition to his wife, he leaves his children, DeWitt C. Jones IV and his wife, Viki Bok, of Jamaica Plain, Peter W. Jones and his wife, Kerry Jones, of West Hartford, Connecticut, and Douglas H. Jones and his wife, Annie H. Dean, of Falmouth; and his grandchildren, Bene Webster, Henry Jones, Cameron Jones, Nicholas Jones, Eryk Jones and Molly Jones.

He was predeceased by his sister, Mary Willett.

Obituary is from the Falmouth Capenews.net.