Keeping up with the Joneses:
Remembering Rufus Jones ’52 and Reflections of Lee Jones Hargadon ’48 By Terence Maguire, WFS Archivist Wilmot Rufus Jones III ’52 passed away on January 13, 2021 and was a member of a class which produced a raft
of jurists, scientists, and very successful businessmen and bankers. They have also been exceptionally faithful alumni of Wilmington Friends, and Rue (as he was called by his friends and kin) was among the most successful and loyal. He was the second child of Wilmot Jones, Head of School at Wilmington Friends from 1935 to 1962, the longest-tenured head of school in our history. Wilmot presided over the last two years of the old school at Fourth and West, opposite the Wilmington Monthly Meeting House that still stands; in 1937, the school moved into the Alapocas campus and building, its first new location in 189 years. Little Rufus was not even three years old when the family moved from an apartment near Brandywine Park to what was called the Farm House and is now known as the Jones House (pictured above), a house that was first built even before Friends School began in 1748. His sister Lee, 3 1/2 years older, began kindergarten that year at WFS, and Rufus entered kindergarten three years later. Rufus’s son Stephen has beautifully recounted his father’s journey through many homes, many business positions, many manufacturing innovations and an ever-expanding family. The Alumni/Development office staff, which is housed in the Jones House, thought it would be interesting to capture, if we could, Rue’s time at Friends School in the 1940s and early 1950s. We interviewed Rue’s sister Lee Hargadon ’48, who has lived most of her adult life in Maine, not far from the greater Jones family compound at South China, which goes back to the early 19th century. We also thought that it would be of interest to learn what we could of those first 8-10 years of life on the new Alapocas campus. We also asked a number of Rufus’s classmate friends about him, and the portrait that arose was that of a fun-loving, slightly–even very–mischievous young man.
Memories of Rufus’s Classmates Fred Pardee A classroom prank: Teacher of French, Jane
Rittenhouse, marked Rufus absent from class one day. As the class progressed to the halfway point, the door to the broom closet opened and Rufus stepped out and calmly took his seat. Teacher Jane was so infuriated, she was speechless, and all she could do was point her finger toward the exit like an umpire calling the third strike for an out. Rufus complied silently as well, knowing instinctively that his next stop was his father’s office following his wait on the horsehair sofa in the front lobby. [Recurrent theme of popping out of closets?] Before class started, Rufus and I were caught throwing erasers at the blackboard to get the gratifying explosion of chalk dust upon impact. When we were sent to Wilmot’s office, we were introduced to Wilmot’s version of creative punishment suited to the offense. Wilmot took us outdoors behind the farmhouse to a tree with a suitably large trunk. He drew a chalk circle on the tree trunk and gave us a supply of erasers. We had to throw erasers at the circle for a long enough time to get it out of our systems.
Hersch Loomis I know Fred and Mark have a ton of Rufus stories. I remember one: One of us, I think it was Fred, regularly brought a hard-boiled egg in his lunch. Rue would reach over, take the egg, and crack it on his head. Then, he’d hand it back to Fred who peeled it and ate it. Well of course one day Fred brought the raw egg. Rue without hesitation performed the ritual cracking with obvious results. I doubt he went home to clean up. Mark Ball This Rue Jones story goes back to age 15, when I visited Rue and his family in South China, Maine. It has to do with Rue’s fitness as a boy and young man. It was too windy one day to go sailing in the Thistle (Wilmot called it “Do It,” as in “Thistle do it”), and so Wilmot suggested that a few of us boys get in a skiff, hold up a towel or something like that as a makeshift sail, and take off downwind. We did. It was splen7
