Michael Hunt Jones

Friends, colleagues, students, and family will be immensely saddened to hear of the passing, after a long illness, of Dr. Michael Hunt Jones, who died in Milwaukie, Oregon on May 22, 2019 at age 64.

Michael was born on March 5, 1955 in McMinnville, Oregon to William Hunt Jones and LaVora (Black) Jones. At the age of 8 his family moved to Oregon City. Michael’s family then settled in Milwaukie as he started high school. He graduated from Rex Putnam High School in 1973. He began his studies at the University of Oregon, graduating in 1979. Michael met Jo Ellen “Jody” Carter outside the Portland Audubon Society Center in NW Portland in 1982. While dating, Michael and Jody shared many adventures together, throughout the United States; including owning and operating a lunch deli restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, called “It’s Us, we deliver”. They were united in marriage after the manner of Friends, at a Quaker Meeting House on the Earlham College campus in Richmond, Indiana, on May 3, 1986. Their “honeymoon” was a summer living in a tent in the southern Colorado Rockies hacking peregrine falcon fledglings (feeding, monitoring and collecting data on captively propagated, peregrines being released to help bring the species back from the brink of extinction). They had a second honeymoon again the next year hacking peregrines on the cliffs along the Green River in northern Utah.

They both entered Boise State University to earn Master’s degrees completing that work in 1991. During that time they enjoyed a winter on the island of Mauritius, in the Southern Indian Ocean, where Jody was conducting her Master’s research. Michael completed a degree in Forestry studying the effects of shade trees on the regeneration of Douglas Fir trees in the Bogus Basin area outside of Boise. His daughter, Courtney, was born in Boise as they finished their Master’s Studies.

The family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for Michael to undertake doctorial studies at the University of Alberta. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Ecology with his doctoral research focusing on the effects of climate change on plants in the high arctic. Michael’s son, Gavin, was born in Edmonton as he finished his Ph.D. He then continued this focus in many of his post-doctoral positions at the University of Colorado, the University of Wyoming and the Ohio State University. His wife and children enjoyed their travels and adventures together as Michael grew in his knowledge and career. Michael and his family settled in the Great Northwest, in 2001, where Michael could truly share his love of the outdoors.

He considered his greatest professional accomplishment to be teaching and growing the enthusiasm of his students for science (which is why his favorite courses to teach were 100-level basic science classes). He taught for nearly ten years at Mt. Hood Community College. Dr. Jones was also integral as an instructor in the C.A.S. program with students from Central America who came to the United States on a two-year international commitment to broaden studies outside of one’s primary academic focus.

Michael was an avid outdoorsman, conservationist, and adventurer. He began climbing at age 16, and among his accomplishments were conquering many of the Northwest’s peaks, including Mt. Hood (including a few successful North Side solo climbs), Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Three-Finger-Jack, and summiting the Middle and North Sisters peaks in one day. He was an accomplished water colorist, and enjoyed woodworking and sculpturing using materials he found in nature. He received a Platinum-level certification for the backyard habitat he created at his home (the first in Clackamas County to attain that level of certification).

Michael found so much joy and beauty in the natural world around him. He loved to work in his garden, journal his birdwatching activities and express his natural creativity. He treasured the time he spent with his children and grandchildren. They enjoyed working in his wood shop, his garden, exploring the outdoors, and hearing of his incredible adventures. Michael had so much to share with the world, and the people that loved him.

Michael will be remembered, and deeply missed, by

his wife of 33 years, Jody Carter;

their children: daughter Courtney Cunningham (husband Tyler), and son Gavin Jones;

grandchildren: Liam, Finley, and Ariya Cunningham;

mother: LaVora Jones

siblings: brother Patrick Jones and sister Tammy Calkum,

and by countless colleagues and students from years of teaching who responded to his stewardship and passion for learning and science.

Michael once expressed that he would want his epitaph to be: I was once mountain, cloud, star.

For a small exhibition of his artwork, Michael was asked to write a short self-bio:

M i c h a e l H u n t J o n e s, P h D

ecologist, scientific illustrator, & artist

for the simple pleasure of seeing the wondrous natural world

As a child I was often in trouble for wandering off to the local woods and stream sides; there was always so much to see! As a new teen, my friends and I would convince one dad to drive us to a Cascades trailhead, backpack in for a night or three, and have a different dad pick us up. How generous were our parents, believing in our growing maturity! Then, when I could drive, I was always in the mountains or other wilds, typically solo. I don’t know why, then, I didn’t earn my doctorate (in plant and ecosystems ecology, focusing on the arctic and climate change) until I was 40. But never mind: the routes getting there were wondrous, taking me to many magnificent parts of the world.

My first artistic commission was for medical illustrations for the ER at Willamette Falls Hospital, when I was 16. I subsequently sold drawings of homes or historical sites, and have been commissioned for churches and other buildings. I drew the old Moore’s Floor Mill for Bob, which they used for their product labels until the mill burned and they moved into their current location.

While completing my Master’s in forestry I considered making a career of scientific illustrating. A wise counselor, who herself worked as an illustrator for the Field Museum in Chicago, asked whether I wanted to create for the Zen of it, for my own pleasure and satisfaction, or whether I could be content focused on deadlines and the work of others. I chose teaching and research for my breadwinning, and—happily—saved ‘art’ for the simple joy of seeing and creating.

Now that I am retired, and now that I have a degenerative nerve disease that substantially limits my physical abilities, artistic creativity has become my focus and principle pleasure. The range of my world is now frustratingly small. Nevertheless, there is exquisite beauty all around, from the macro scale to the micro, and all I have to do is see. It is my hope that I can help you see and enjoy more of the natural world around us, and, perhaps, enjoy my art in your home.

May your soul now climb and wander freely, Dr. Michael Hunt Jones.

A memorial service is being planned and details will be posted here.