Resident of the Month - Don Jones

Don Jones is the 86-year-old gentleman, physicist, commodities trading expert, writer, father of four, and partner to Betty living in Suite 19 at Columbia Cottage in Collegeville, PA. Don was born outside of Cameron, Missouri in 1932. As a child, Don moved around quite a bit with his Dad, Clifton Jones, before settling back in with his Mom, Veda Jones, and his younger sister, Jody, in Denver, Colorado. It was in Denver that Don went to high school, became a member of the high school wrestling team, and the ski team. He also discovered his love of automobiles and motorcycles. He attended University of Colorado, located in Boulder, Colorado, and graduated with a B.S. and a Masters in Physics. He spent several years in the U.S. Navy before returning to Boulder to complete his PhD in Physics from the same university. Don then started working for The National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado as a physicist and a researcher. While these writings did not make the NY Times Best Seller List, he completed 3 important pieces of research for the Bureau – “Strong Blast Waves in Spherical, Cylindrical, and Plane Shocks,” “Microwave Doppler Measurements of the Ionization Front in Cylindrical Shock Waves from Exploding Wires,” and “The Energy Parameter B for Strong Blast Waves.” In the late 1960’s Don left Colorado to accept a position with General Electric’s space exploration program in the labs located in King of Prussia, PA. He moved his family of 4 kids, 2 horses, and a dog to Limerick, PA. It wasn’t long before his entrepreneurial spirit got the best of him and he started dabbling in commodities research. In the late 1970’s he started Commodity Information Services. He moved to Chicago, IL to be close to the Chicago Board of Trade and his money management/commodities trading business took off. During that time of his life, Don wrote two books: Hedging Foreign Exchange – Converting Risk to Profit, and Value Based Trading: Using Overlay Demand Curve to Pinpoint Trends and Predict Market Turns. Don later took his business back to his roots in Denver, Colorado. He spent the last 25 years in Denver running his business, skiing and playing racquetball before fully retiring in 2015. Don has four kids that are very active in his life. Stephanie, Eric, Kit and Ashley. He has eleven grandchildren and one great, grandson. When asked what he likes most about living in Columbia Cottage, his reply was simple… “I enjoy my time every day with Betty and the exceptional care we both receive. The staff makes living here very enjoyable. We not only receive great professional care, Betty and I know that the staff truly cares about us, personally.”