Uncrowned Community Builders

Wardner H. Jones was a native of Powell, Pennsylvania. His parents were Henry Jones and Elizabeth A. Dorsey Jones. His siblings were Secue, Liston, Leeland, Katherine and Martin. Mr. Jones lived in Flint, Michigan, where he met is wife, the former Agnes Carter. They were married in Wayne County, Michigan on September 28, 1920.

In 1924, Jones, his wife and his brother, Leeland, moved to Buffalo with their families. From the start of his residency in the city, he became an active community builder and businessman. He was a mortician and owned a funeral home that was located at 417 Jefferson Avenue. Both brothers were funeral directors and operated their own businesses. Jones received his training at Eckles College of Embalmers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was one of the founding Board members of the Michigan Street YMCA, a Board of Trustees chairman and held other volunteer subcommittee chairs as well as actively fundraised for the organization. In 1929 Jones sponsored a baseball team, which featured young players who were affiliated with the Urban League or the YMCA. The young bat boy for the team was Jones' nephew, Leeland (later a pioneering Buffalo politician and community leader).

He also was a member of the Hadji Temple Shriners, St. John's Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, the Appomattox Club of Buffalo, Erie-Niagara Funeral Directors Association of Western New York and Shiloh Baptist Church where he also served on the Usher Board.

Jones died on November 6, 1959. He was 71 years, 6 months and 1 day old according to the burial records. As a fellow practitioner in the mortuary profession, Forest Lawn Cemetery did not charge for his burial.