Longtime Baileyville Councilor Jones dies of cancer

BAILEYVILLE – Frank “Doug” Jones, a retired restaurateur and paper mill electrician who served the town for 42 years as one of its council members, died of lung cancer early Tuesday morning at a Bangor hospital.

Jones had been diagnosed with lung cancer less than a month ago while attending a meeting in San Diego.

Residents who attended the town’s annual meeting Monday evening were told of the serious illness of their council chairman. Jones had been chairman for more than 20 of his 42 years in an elected town position.

“We are going to miss Doug,” Town Manager Scott Harriman said Tuesday. “His level of dedication to the town of Baileyville was incredible, and his contributions to Baileyville and Washington County in general have been immeasurable.”

Harriman noted Jones’ role in the Route 9 Improvement Committee in particular.

For seven months last year, until Sept. 27, Jones served as the town’s acting manager. From October through December, he handled another of his favorite duties as an annual member of the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee.

Jones, 78, had suffered from a cold in February. That turned into pneumonia during a trip earlier this month in California. During that hospitalization the cancer was discovered.

He returned to Baileyville on March 9 but was too weak to take part in his usual town duties. He went Friday to Eastern Maine Medical Center where his condition worsened.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Jennie Jones. They had five children, including a son who died in 1990. They had six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Jones graduated from Woodland High School in 1944 and served in the U.S. Army in Panama in 1945. He then worked for 44 years as an electrician and supervisor for the St. Croix Paper Co., later Georgia-Pacific and now Domtar Industries Inc.

In the 1960s, he and his wife owned the Jones Frontier Restaurant in Baileyville. Their patrons got a full home-cooked meal, dessert included, for $1. The restaurant was in the same building where Jones’ father once had a bakery.

Jones was elected to the Town Council in 1963. His interest in the town has lasted without a break.

“The Town Council has always been a focus for him,” said Dianne Ibenthal, a daughter who lives in New Mexico. “Once he retired [at 62], it was really healthy to have a focus like that. He went there every day.”