John Frank Jones

John Frank Jones passed away suddenly of natural causes at the age of 72. He was born in Hammond, IN on May 9, 1950 and passed away July 10, 2022 at home in Costa Mesa. He leaves behind his wife Carol, sons Robert, Richard, and Jeffrey, their wives Christina, Tawnya, and Crystal, four grandchildren Dylan, Kelsi, Rilynn, and Jax. He is also survived by his brother Larry, Angie (Larry’s wife), and numerous nieces and nephews.

John grew up in Lansing, IL. After earning his degree at Northern Illinois University, he began his lifelong career in education, returning to teach at the local high school.

In 1983, he and his wife moved to California with their three sons. They spent their first few months in California living in a 19-foot travel trailer in Chula Vista. After a few months John and his family moved to Diamond Bar. Where he began 31 years of teaching woodshop and architecture at Diamond Bar High School. He found teaching very rewarding and the students enjoyed learning subjects that would grow into careers. Although he found it difficult, he retired from Diamond Bar High School in 2012, only to return part-time as a vocational teacher.

John fully retired after a few years to spend more time with his growing family. John and Carol purchased a motorhome and would go camping a couple of times a month. They made many new friends and acquaintances. John’s love for games led him to become the “Game Guy” with their camping groups. John and Carol would frequently get together with neighbors and camping friends to play bean bag baseball, Blongo, and card games.

In 2016 John and Carol moved to their current home in Costa Mesa, CA to be closer to their grandchildren. He loved to spend time with his grandkids! Over the years John built a large die cast car collection, which he put on display for others to see. John and Dylan looked forward to spending hours playing with and admiring each of the cars individually. John loved when neighbors would be drawn into the garage to admire his collection and to chat. John loved surprising his grandchildren with gifts. One of the gifts was a children’s sport car they would take turns riding around in. It was a favorite activity at Grandpa’s house. Jax never wanted to leave it. Kelsi and Rilynn loved to feed Grandpa the pretend concoctions they made in their play kitchen and cuddle with him when they were tired.

John impacted many people’s lives and will be missed by both family and friends.