To longtime readers of The San Diego Union-Tribune, journalist Welton Jones was a highly opinionated theater critic and an enthusiastic celebrant of the city’s arts scene. But to family, friends and his colleagues in the local historical preservation community, Jones was also a behind-the-scenes champion and fierce protector of San Diego’s cultural heritage.
The Mission Hills resident died of congestive heart failure Saturday at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. He was 86.
His wife of 38 years, Hollace “Holly” Jones, said that — true to her late husband’s ever-ebullient personality — he hid the seriousness of his condition and was still offering advice and chatting with friends about future plans right up until he passed.
Jones, a famously larger-than-life character who stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall, was an arts editor, writer, theater critic and critic at large for The San Diego Union-Tribune, and its predecessor, the San Diego Union, from 1966 until his retirement in 2001. He was also active in the historic preservation groups Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO), the Balboa Park Committee of 100 and the Save Starlight campaign.
Jones’ daughter Diana Cantu said that her father relished learning about many subjects — theater, music, art, books, the sea and local history — but his overriding passion was sharing whatever he learned with others and serving as “cheerleader” for the city.
“He was a big personality, full of passions and enthusiasms and very strong opinions about almost everything. More than a champion, he was an evangelist for the ideas and causes and things that he valued. He loved the thrill of the chase. But as soon as he discovered something, it was like a hot potato. He couldn’t enjoy it until he passed it along to somebody else,” Cantu said.
Born Welton Jones Jr. on June 18, 1936, in Fort Worth, Texas, he attended high school in Lubbock, where Buddy Holly was a classmate. After earning a journalism degree at…