2016 Distinguished Staff
THS Physics.
J.W. Jones was and is a Topeka High legend, period. No student of his ever forgot his unique personality and mannerisms. A Nebraska native, he graduated from Peru State Teachers College, NB, later earning his Masters’ degree from Northwestern University. Jones was an instructor in Nebraska and South Dakota and Superintendent of Schools for Viborg, SD, before coming to Topeka High where he taught from 1935 to 1970. In his first years at Troy he oversaw biology as well as physics classes and for a time headed the THS Science Dept., also sponsoring JETS, the Junior Engineering Society. Many of J.W.’s students went on to science or engineering careers including the late Dr. James Gordon (1952), a nuclear physicist at Los Alamos. Known to all only by his initials, “J.W.”, a mystery has been recently solved: they stand for “John William.”