Grenville C. Jones – 10th Guardian of Alhambra
On April 19, 2012 Dr. Grenville Jones, the tenth and longest serving principal of Alhambra (Union) High School passed on at the age of 102 in Lincoln, California.
Grenville was born on November 11, 1909 in Ithaca, New York to Matthew and Elizabeth Jones. He was the youngest of 5 siblings, preceding him were Helen, Mildred, Donald and Stanley. The family moved to Rome NY and then to Santa Maria, CA where he graduated from high school. In school he was very active in tennis, basketball and football.
Grenville served his country during World War II as a Lieutenant in the US Navy.
He graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s Degree in English in 1931, and went on to complete his Master’s Degree from the University of Oregon at Eugene. Later he received his Doctorate in Education at Stanford.
His first teaching assignment was at a high school in Atascadero, California where he taught for five years. As a young teacher one of his first students in his senior English class was a wonderful young lady named Eileen. Soon after her graduation from high school in 1935 they were wed in San Jose. They spent the next 77 years together. Eileen preceded Grenville in death on March 31, 2012.
The couple had two sons; Gary Jones, John Jones and one daughter Kathy Owens plus six grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren.
Grenville taught English, communications and coached football from 1938 to 1948 in Woodland CA. Then from 1948-1950 he served as Principal of Williams High School in Williams CA. He came to Martinez in the fall of 1950 to take the position of Principal of Alhambra Union High School replacing Willard B. Knowles who accepted the position of Superintendent of the Alhambra Union High School District.
The Joneses first lived in a rented house on Alhambra Ave and several months later purchased a half acre of land on Reliez Valley Road and built a home for his family.
In 1962 – 1963 he and his family participated in a Principal exchange program. This is why in viewing the 1963 Torch (Yearbook) you find the name Manual Kwon as Principal. The two Principals exchanged jobs, homes and cars for one year. Grenville served that year as Principal of Leilehua High School in Oahu, Hawaii.
After his retirement in 1972 he and Eileen moved back to Atascadero CA where they lived the next 30 years. Then in 2000, because of their age they decided to move closer to family and lived the rest of their lives at the Lincoln Hills Senior Community in Lincoln, CA.
Grenville was a long time member and past president of the Martinez Kiwanis Club. He enjoyed tennis, water skiing, and snow skied up to the age of 90. He was a great lover and player of golf, and always enjoyed playing a hand of poker or bridge.
In his final years he suffered from many mini strokes and in his final hours on April 19, 2012 he took a fall and passed a few hours after.
When Mr. Jones came to Alhambra he supervised a teaching staff of 23 and a small student body. Upon his retirement in 1972 a total of 69 teachers reported to him plus the largest student body Alhambra had ever seen. During his tenure he almost completely rebuilt every structure on the campus to allow for growth and modernization. But his real love was working with his staff and the students.
These words were printed in the 1972 Torch… “Dr. Grenville C. Jones after serving 22 years as Alhambra’s principal, has made his presence felt in two main areas: his devotion to creating a curriculum that offers meaningful educational experiences to Alhambra’s students and his unfailing support of his teachers as they develop, get financial support for, and teach the programs that have been adopted.”
“There are smoother roads for a high school principal to travel – ones that allow a principal to avoid the tensions of controversy that new ways of teaching produce, but Dr. Jones was willing to take the rougher road and Alhambra’s students and teachers acknowledge his great gift to them: a more meaningful program.”
Dr. Jones left us with these words, “Your education is just beginning! If education is experience, life has plenty to offer you! Take advantage of it! Keep your mind open and alert! There are exciting times ahead! America needs citizens who are thoughtful, informed, and critical. I hope you are one of those for whom education is just beginning, not ending.”
These and other stories about Dr. Jones and the history of Alhambra and the Martinez schools can be found on the Alhambra Alumni Website located at: http://www.AlhambraAlumni.org
David A. Rich
May 7, 2012