May 19, 2015
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| Andrew W. Jones on the Mt. Lowe Trail. Credit: Rachel Siegel |
Andrew W. Jones was passionate about social justice and protecting the environment. Now a new Angeles Chapter Sierra Club scholarship, the Andrew W. Jones Young Activist Scholarship, will be awarded to five students in the L.A. area to provide them with education in social and environmental activism.
Andrew, who died of cancer in April, gave the Chapter a generous gift to continue its work on environmental preservation.
The Sierra Club member who grew up in Los Angeles enjoyed hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains and camping in the Sierra Nevada. Millard Canyon above Altadena was among his favorite places.
He started backpacking with his brothers before he reached his teens, as soon as he could carry a pack. He became active in the Sierra Club in high school.
Andrew earned a PhD in Sociology from the University of Arizona and taught at the University of Vermont (Burlington) and at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. He taught courses on corporations and the environment, environmental sociology and ecologically sustainable societies.
In 2013 after he was diagnosed with cancer, he moved back to Los Angeles. Andrew enjoyed 18 months of very active living, his family says, thanks to excellent care from Huntington Hospital Cancer Center and UCLA Medical Center. He visited family and friends on the West Coast and in Hawaii and Texas. He traveled to Japan and organized a family reunion on Mt. Hood in Oregon.
He also became active in 2014 with the successful campaign to create the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. At one L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting he said: "What making the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument would do, it would give it recognition and, along with that recognition would come more money."
Andrew's gift will send five students to SPROG, the Club's grass-roots summer training program outside L.A. from July 12 to 19. Students learn about campaign planning, leadership development, anti-oppression campaigns for social justice and the effective use of media.
The Chapter thanks Andrew for his donation that will pass on Sierra Club environmental values to the next generation.