William Branham Jones (Bill) died Jan. 26, 2023, at his home in Boulder, Colo.
He was 91.
Born in Spring Hill, Tenn., on Sept. 24, 1931, to James Harding Jones and Myra Hume Jones, Bill was preceded in death by his parents and two older brothers, James H. Jones Jr. and Alfred Hume Jones.
After graduating with a B.A. in mathematics from Jacksonville State Teachers College in Jacksonville, Ala., Bill entered graduate school at Vanderbilt University.
In 1955 he received an M.A. in mathematics and decided to continue for a Ph.D.
During his years at Vanderbilt University, Bill met Martha Hadley, an undergraduate majoring in English, and the couple married Aug. 27, 1956, in Denver, Colo., Martha's hometown. They returned to Nashville for Bill to continue working on his Ph.D. and as a mathematics instructor, while Martha taught English and Tennessee history at East Junior High School.
In June 1958, a month before the birth of their first child, Bill and Martha moved to Boulder and Bill accepted a position in the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory at National Bureau of Standards in Boulder and later joined the faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder Department of Mathematics, where he continued until his retirement in December 1996. He served as chair of the CU-Boulder Mathematics Department from 1987 to 1990, during which time he contributed to the conception and design of the new mathematics building, the Mathematics Module program, and the Center for Number Theory. From 1990 until 2015, he edited the Mathematics Department newsletter, Prime Bits, and was instrumental in establishing an endowment in the University of Colorado Foundation for the Mathematics Department Kempner Colloquium series.
Bill is survived by his wife and their five children, Kathleen (Marty Reibold), Anne Holmes (Frank), Robert, Kevin (Marianna) and Bethany; and three grandchildren, Robin Reibold, Samuel Holmes and Helen Holmes.
A celebration of life service will be held at the First Congregational Church Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions in Bill's memory be made to the University of Colorado-Boulder Department of Mathematics (giving.cu.edu/fund/mathematicsdepartment-fund), Tru Hospice or First Congregational Church Bequest Fund. Crist Mortuary is handling arrangements and a full obituary may be found at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/boulder-co/williamjones-11124472