Douglas Abbey Jones

PVT in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co A

ASN#12123757 Casualty: Wounded

Born 1919 in CT, Died 1980

Artist

County of residence at enlistment: Cheshire County, NH

Other residence(s): Hartford, CT; Blackstone, VA; East Northfield, MA; Greenfield, MA

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: commercial artists

College education before the war: Yale 4 years

College education after the war: Tyler School of Art at Temple Univ. MFA; Alfred Univ.

Source: 603rd Camouflage Engineer Roster provided by W. Anderson; List of Casualties (Unofficial); Teddy Katz Co A Roster; photo from 1937 Hartford Courant article

Douglas Jones was born on July 15, 1919 in Hartford, CT, the youngest of four children (though one of his older siblings died in infancy before he was born). His mother had been born in Sweden; his father, Carroll, appears in different census years as a farmer, a model maker, and a stock and bond salesman. But Carroll was also an artist, trained at Hartford Art School, and for 22 years he conducted a private boys camp on Swanzey Lake, NH; he also taught art at Keene (NH) High School and the local "Y."

Douglas' uncle, Albertus E. Jones, was also a prominent Connecticut artist in the first half of the 20th century.

Douglas graduated from the William Hall High School in West Hartford, CT, in 1936 where he served as art editor of the yearbook, as had his brother the year before him. Both Douglas and his brother followed in their father's footsteps, studying art at Yale. At the end of his freshman year, Douglas was awarded the Ethel Childe Walker Prize for "merit and progress shown in work done by a pupil under 21 years of age." He received his BFA with a concentration in painting in 1941.

He registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, while he was still a student at Yale. He enlisted on June 29, 1942 at which time he was living in Cheshire County, NH (though he enlisted in NYC) and working as a commercial artist.

Like many artists and art students from the New York City area he was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, and saw service in Europe during the war. After his discharge from the Army, on October 20, 1945, he appears to have pursued an MFA degree at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.

He also headed the Art Department at the former Blackstone College for Girls in Blackstone, Virginia for two years.

Douglas married nurse Martha Faulkner on August 30, 1947, and in 1948 accepted a job as head of the Art Department at the Northfield School for Girls (later Northfield Mt. Hermon) in western Massachusetts. He would spend the rest of his career there, living at various times in East Northfield and in nearby Greenfield. Douglas and Martha raised a family of three: Stephen, Thomas, and Katherine, and Martha also worked at the school, serving at various times as a nurse, a switchboard operator, and a staff member in the alumni office and the dean's office.

Douglas also continued to practice his art—working primarily in watercolor but also in oils and collage, and adding pottery to his repertoire after studying ceramics at Alfred University. Several exhibits of his work were held.

In addition to his teaching duties at Northfield, he also taught painting, pottery, and silk screening at the Village school of Arts and Crafts and at his home. When Northfield Mt. Hermon opened an Art Gallery on campus, he became director of that as well. He also worked as a freelance illustrator for the multi-volume Ford Times Cookbook and as a designer for Cape Shore Paper Products.

Sadly, especially given his history as one of the Ghost Army's wartime artists, a 1955 fire in the garage/studio behind his home destroyed 150 of his oil paintings and watercolors, including all of his wartime work.

One of his students at Northfield Mt. Hermon, Yolanda Suarez Merchant, who later became a well-known artist in her own right, said of her former teacher: "He really taught me how to draw, taught me how to see."

Douglas died on December 9, 1980 in Greenfield MA and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Northfield.

In 2009, a retrospective of his work, entitled "The Artistic Expression of Douglas A. Jones" was held at the Northfield Mt. Hermon art gallery.