Billy Prentice Jones, 93, of Huntsville, passed away Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Mr. Jones was born the son of Asa Lonzo Jones and Martha Gertrude Pitts Jones on October 1, 1929, in the village of West Point in northwest Cullman County, Alabama.

Billy graduated from West Point High School as the 1947 class president. He received an Associate of Science degree from St. Bernard Junior College in 1949; a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Auburn Polytechnic Institute (later Auburn University) in March 1951; and an M.A. degree in Mathematics from the University of Alabama in 1965. He did extensive postgraduate work in Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, and English Literature at the University of Alabama in Huntsville; and in Mathematics at Auburn University. He was a member of the honor societies Tau Beta Pi (Engineering), Alpha Zeta (Agriculture), Phi Kappa Phi (Science), Alpha Lambda Delta (English), and Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics). He was active in the Huntsville Literary Association and for thirty-five years was host and leader of a monthly Literary Discussion Group.

His professional life included ten years of development engineering on Army guided missiles and rockets, including the XM5 booster rocket and Nike I guided missile; serving as Project Engineer for the Nike Ajax anti-aircraft guided missile system and the early Nike Zeus Army anti-missile system; and together with Theodore F. DeBauw instigated the feasibility study and first funding for active development of the Redstone Army anti-missile system.

His professional life also included twenty years of research in the field of thermophysics, embedded in the Research Project Office of the Army Ballistics Missile Agency (two years) and the Space Sciences Laboratory of the Marshall Space Flight Center (Eighteen years). Gerhard B. Heller was his mentor (until his accidental death) for thirteen of the twenty years. This activity included, as a team member, the thermal design of the early Explorer series of earth satellites, and of the Surveyor lander series on the Earth's moon. He developed a theoretical thermophysical model of the lunar outermost layer for which he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. In summary, his training and experience were remarkably interdisciplinary.

In addition, he shared with his father, until his father' death in 1980, the management of a small farm in Cullman County, Alabama. And then, he built a small two-story cabin and kept the farm for leasing pastureland, timber production and recreation.

In March 1959, Billy married Eunice Pruitt Danner, who was the mother of two sons, Bert Willis Danner and Ronald Gene Danner. Eunice died on January 20, 2007, and her sons died a few years after.

Billy married Carolyn McLain Woolnough on November 9, 2016. Carolyn was born May 7, 1935 in Camden, South Carolina. She has two daughters, Annette Knox of Australia and Catherine Knox of Los Angeles.

At Billy's request, there will not be a service.

(Bill Jones Obituary. Published by AL.com 3/9/23 at https://obits.al.com/us/obituaries/huntsville/name/billy-jones-obituary?id=49879549)