JONES

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 04:18:32 :

Marin Independent Journal
Tuesday, May 7, 1985

ROGERS JONES

Rogers Jones, a longtime Marin City civic leader, died Friday at his home. He was 84.

Mr. Jones, a Marin City resident for more than 40 years, was a retired construction worker. He was born in Alabama and settled in California in 1923.

His early jobs included stints as a laborer in the Sausalito shipyards and with the Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Jones also sailed as a merchant marine.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Jones headed a move to block the annexation of Marin City to Sausalito. “If Sausalito had gotten hold of Marin City, the black people wouldn’t be here in Marin County today,” said Jones in an interview with the Marin Independent Journal. “They would have driven us out.”

Mr. Jones was a volunteer for the Marin County poverty program and served on the Marin City Community Services District. He was elected to the latter post in 1977 during a recall election and remained a watchdog for tenants’ rights.

He was a member of Marin County Housing Authority and Redevelopment Commission board of directors. The two groups were later split.

“He was in his second term as Housing Authority Commission,” Janet Miller Schoder, executive director of the Housing Authority said today.

“We’re really going to miss him. He was such a nice person and such a gentleman. I think you can characterize him as one of the leaders in Marin City history,” she added.

Russell and Gooch Mortuary in Mill Valley is handling arrangements.