In Memory of Garry Davis Jones
1952–2004
Garry Davis Jones, age 51, of Sugar Land, TX, died May 6, 2004 at The Methodist Hospital
in Houston.
Garry was born in Paterson, N.J., and was raised in Wayne, N.J. Garry was an avid golf enthusiast, and at the age of 8, he won his first contest, a local community hole-in-one competition, which was open to all ages. He also worked as an assistant to the pro at the Packanack Lake Golf Club as a young man. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Catawba College and was the captain of his golf team at Catawba, in Salisbury, NC; a master's degree from Western Washington State College, Bellingham, WA; and a PhD. in geology from the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. His doctoral dissertation focused on Eocene micropaleontology of the North Carolina Coastal Plain and was published by the North Carolina Geological Survey as a special publication in 1983.
Dr. Jones spent his career as a biostratigrapher for Unocal in Brea, California; Lafayette, Louisiana; and in Sugar Land, Texas. He was an adjunct professor in the Earth Science Department of Rice University for the past three years. Garry was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a member (and president in 2000) of North American Micropaleontology Section of SEPM, and a member of the GCSSEPM. Garry was also certified by the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists. As a part of NAMS, Garry was the organizer of an international conference on geology and microfossils, to take place at Rice University in March 2005.
Garry went to the hospital for routine surgery when his circulatory, respiratory, and renal systems began to shut down. It was Dr. Jones' devotion to science which prompted him to be the first patient in the United States to receive the implant of an Impella heart pump, developed by Impella CardioSystems of Germany, shortly before his death.
Garry was a devoted husband, father, uncle, and friend. Garry was well known and well liked by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Callie (7) and Maggie (4).