Dr. WILLIAM N. JONES,
87, of Little Rock, passed away Monday, November 29, 2021. He was born to Dr. Curtis W. and Rosina Jones on March 4, 1934, in Little Rock, Ark. Bill graduated high school from Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee. He earned both his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine from Tulane University in New Orleans.
From 1963-65, Bill was a Captain in the U.S. Medical Corps in Colorado. Upon returning to his home state, “little Billy Jones from Benton,” as he often self-deprecatingly referred to himself, started his private practice in dermatology. For fifty-four years, he saw patients in the same buttercup yellow office in Little Rock’s Doctors Building. In his two “exam rooms,” furnished with memorabilia from Canadian fishing trips, Bill greeted every patient like a friend, so much so that his office secretaries, the same two who stayed with him for decades, knew to pad each patient’s appointment slot for extended conversation.
Over his career, Bill was on staff at St. Vincent Infirmary, Baptist Medical Center, UAMS, and the Doctors Hospital and volunteered as a Professor of Dermatology at UAMS every Thursday for over thirty years. He participated in the national medical community with membership in the American Academy of Dermatology and as delegate to the American Medical Association, as well as local membership in the Arkansas Medical Society (President, 1990-91) and Arkansas Dermatological Society (President, 1970). Bill gave to his community as chair for the Coalition for a Healthier Arkansas, on the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement Policy Board, and as Dermatological Consultant for Youth Homes of Arkansas. He was a particularly passionate advocate during the AIDS crisis—working on the Governor’s Task Force on AIDS and the State Board of Health AIDS Advisory Committee and against smoking with the Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Advisory Board. Bill was the recipient of the Arkansas Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award, Arkansas Medical Society’s Asklepion Award for leadership and service, and Pulaski County Medical Society’s Don Quixote Award.
Bill was a member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, serving on the Administrative Board and as Sunday School President. In the course of being Secretary, Director, Program Chairman, and Paul Harris Fellow, he introduced the gender and racial integration of the West Little Rock Chapter of Rotary International. As a Boy Scout Cub Master and Assistant Scout Master, Bill earned the Scouter’s Key, Eagle Scout Award, National Wood Badge Award, and Silver Beaver Award.
A renaissance man, Bill enjoyed tennis, Pilates, gardening, playing the piano, rock collecting, and tying his own fishing flies. Family and friends can recite by heart his animated stories about his “once in a lifetime” annual salmon fly-fishing trips with fellow “George River Rats,” hunting for Civil War relics across the South, and cooking Bananas Foster at Ruthie’s and his infamous New Year’s Eve parties.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of fifty-four years, Ruth Chambers Jones; son-in-law, Tim Boe; and brother, Dr. Robert Jones. He is survived by daughter, Susan Boe of Little Rock and sons, Mark Jones and wife Amber of Alexander, Stephen Jones and wife Christine of Houston, and David Jones and wife Jan of Benton; grandchildren, Elaine Ruth Boe, Vivian Boe, Lauren Jones, Amy Jones, Alex Jones, and Grace Jones; and brother, Dr. Curtis Jones, Jr. His family thanks Annette Wilson for many years of dedication to their father and family.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Pinecrest Memorial Park. The family will receive friends Friday, 6-8 p.m., at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home. The family requests everyone wear a mask. Memorials can be made to, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, 4823 Woodlawn Drive, Little Rock, Ark., 72205, and Potluck Food Rescue, P.O. Box 251558, Little Rock, Ark., 72225.