Richard Lyon Jones

Richard Lyon Jones, 90, of Chester, formerly of Petersburg, passed away peacefully on February 1, 2015 at The Crossings at Ironbridge. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he is predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Patricia St George, his parents, Carl and Virginia, brother Carl Jr., sister Virginia J. Kerr, son David Cleland and daughter-in-law Marla. “Dick” was an Eagle Scout and went on to graduate from Princeton and the University of Virginia Law School in 1949. His military service to his country included Officer Candidate School, USMC 1945, US Army Chemical Warfare School 1945, US Army Tank Officer School, Fort Knox, KY 1950 and the US Naval Justice School, Newport R.I. 1951. He was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 1949, the US Supreme Court Bar in 1954 and was a practicing attorney for over fifty years. He was the recipient of the first “Colonial Heights Young Man of the Year” award in 1954. He was Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Chesterfield County 1958-61, the first Commonwealth Attorney for the City of Colonial Heights in 1961 and Commonwealth Attorney for the City of Petersburg 1976-77. He served 4 years on the Virginia State Bar Ethics Committee and 6 years on the Virginia State Bar Council. He served as Commissioner in Chancery for the Circuit Courts for Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George Counties and the cities of Petersburg and Colonial Heights and Commissioner of Accounts for the City of Petersburg. A respected local historian, Dick published over 35 articles in the Progress Index between 1967-1973 along with three books, “Dinwiddie County, Carrefour of the Commonwealth” in 1976, “The History of a Community Bank: The Bank of Southside Virginia” in 1993 and “The Muir-Epes Murder of 1846” in 1993. He is survived by his son Mark St G. Jones of Richmond; his daughters, Virginia Grace Hickman and husband Sean of Horton Kirby, Kent, England, and Pattie Lee Metz and husband Blair of Alpharetta, Georgia; grandchildren, B. Sterling Metz II and wife Jessica of Cumming, Georgia and Meredith Lee Metz of Frisco, Colorado along with several nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, 13th of February at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church, 1545 S. Sycamore Street, Petersburg. Interment will be private in the Church Memorial Garden prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or on their website at www.cancer.org . The family is being served by the Petersburg Chapel of J. T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home & Cremation Service. Condolences may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com .