— This version corrects the date of Jones’s campaign for county assessor.

Pinpoint when Warren F. Jones’ devotion to public service was born. Perhaps 1960, when he became a charter member of the San Juan Lions Club. Perhaps 1967, when he became a Friday Harbor Town Council member.

But it might have been earlier than that.

In 1952, Jones’s car struck and killed 5-year-old Paul Leslie Scribner on Second Street. Jones, who was 15 at the time, received a delay in his right to apply for a driver’s license; his father was cited for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Today, at 72, his eyes still mist at the memory.

In the ensuing years, he worked as if driven to fill his life with worthwhile acts. Even after the Scribners forgave him and welcomed him into the Masonic Lodge … after Paul’s brother, Jim, became one of his best friends … after three terms as master of the Masonic Lodge … after a term as a Town Council member … after two terms as a cemetery district commissioner … after 25 years of public employment at the county and town level.

When others might have chosen to escape, to move away and start a new life in another community, Jones chose to stay here — to work in the community where Paul Leslie Scribner was born, to drive to work every day past that spot on Second Street where the boy died.

It was not enough, it seemed, for Jones to become all that he could be in life. It was as if he had to try, somehow, to make up for what Paul Leslie Scribner might have been.

“I still think about that,” he said. “I think about what he might have become.”

Eight years after the boy’s death, Jones helped found the San Juan Lions Club; he was only 23. At 29, he was master of San Juan Masonic Lodge 175, to date the youngest master in the local lodge’s history. At 30, he was a Town Council member. At 35, he was Lions Club president. Service in the county assessor’s office, and then the town planning department, followed.

Jones’s retirement Jan. 27 as town zoning coordinator will be low key, at his insistence. His co-workers will take him out to lunch. Then he will, as he put it, “find out what it’s like to not work full-time.” He’ll start an exercise routine and tinker with his late father’s 1940 Packard.

Jones and his wife, Joyce, live on Olympic View Drive. Between them, they have eight children and 11 grandchildren.

But co-workers past and present are remembering Jones as much for his quiet contributions to the community — officiating at funerals, consoling loved ones, advising those who have committed errors that have cost others terribly — as his professionalism on the job.

“He’s a wonderful human being,” town Systems Administrator Steve Dubail said. “He’s done a lot of nice things for people — incredibly quietly. He’s cared for terminally ill cancer patients, he’s opened his home to others. Before I went to work for the town, he went out of his way to help me get back on my feet.

“He’s one of the most outstanding men I’ve ever met. He’s a kind person and he loves this community. I aspire to be like him.”

Keri L. Talbott, who works at the customer service desk at Friday Harbor Town Hall, said, “Besides being one of most knowledgeable people I know, Warren has a sense of humor that gets me rolling. Sometimes he can put out a gruff facade, but he’s got a huge heart. I know if you are someone close to Warren, you know he’d go the extra mile to help you out at anytime.”

Roxanna Zalmanek, town permit technician, said, “Warren was always good for a great quote written on cards. I’ve heard many throughout the years, so here’s one for him: ‘Warren is going to enjoy waking up and not having to go to work; I can imagine that he’ll do it three or four times a day!’ ”

Gary Boothman, who as mayor was Jones’s boss from 1998-2005, said Jones’s retirement will be a loss — not only of a personality, but of institutional knowledge.

“Warren will be missed,” Boothman said. “Other than King (Fitch, town administrator), he has the longest experience in the town — who did what where in regard to construction. He has this mental history of the town that’s missing because it’s not necessarily written down. If someone wants to use a building, he knows what it was built for and who built it. We’re going to lose that knowledge and experience.”

By virtue of his long involvement in the community, Jones became a walking encyclopedia of all things Friday Harbor.

Jones was born in 1937 in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where his father owned a trucking company. The family moved here when Jones was 6, to fulfill the father’s desire to retire on an island.

Jones graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 1955, then worked for about eight years on his family’s Wild Rose Ranch near Sportsman’s Lake. At one time, he had 700 sheep, 100 hogs and 100 brood cows. He also fished and sold ready mix concrete.

Then, he went into real estate. For 10 years, he worked for San Juan Properties, selling real estate in Roche Harbor. Then, he owned Sunland Realty, which became Orca Properties and is now John L. Scott Real Estate. He left the real estate business to join the San Juan County Assessor’s staff. That was in 1985. He joined the town planning department staff six years later.

As a politician and as a town employee, he proved an ability to adapt, but also to stand his ground.

On the council in the late 1960s, he supported construction of the town’s wastewater treatment plant. Late in his term, he moved out of town but served out his term, resisting Mayor James Browne’s request that he resign.

When he lost the assessor’s race to co-worker Paul Dossett, he stayed on as an appraiser for another four years but then he joined town staff.

Working at town hall, he developed a mapping system that rivals those in communities Friday Harbor’s size. Jones’s database shows the footprints of every building in town, as well as the location of critical areas, hydrants, sidewalks, water pressure zones.

Need a map of the town’s view protection corridors? Jones can print one out in a jiffy.

“He could be crusty, but he could be very helpful if you had an idea,” Boothman said. “If you asked him, ‘Could you do a map showing this,’ or ‘What would the town look like if we do this,’ he was good at that. He’ll be missed.”

Jones, whose interest in computers dates back to the earliest Apple Macs, said adaptability is what kept him viable in his 50s, 60s and 70s.

“That’s what’s kept me here past 65 – an ability to learn,” he said. “We have to unlearn things so we can relearn new things.”

Personality-wise, Jones showed he was able to keep up with the times. At 62, he got an earring — albeit a Masonic one — and he’s quick with an iPhone.

He got the ear piercing and the technology idea from Dubail. “I’m trying to talk him into a tattoo,” Dubail said, adding, “He’s very cool.”

Fitch, the town administrator, echoed Boothman’s statement about the loss of institutional knowledge when Jones retires.

“He has been with the town for a good many years. He worked for the assessor, he ran for assessor, he had worked for years in real estate and he came to us with so much knowledge,” Fitch said.

“What he brought was a whole series of intelligent history on the practical application of land use rules. He proved himself over and over again to be a practical sounding board on how we can change rules to better reflect the values of the community and make us a more responsive government.”

At A Glance
Warren F. Jones retires from Friday Harbor Town Hall on Jan. 27. Here’s a lineup of his public service.

— 1960: Charter member, San Juan Lions Club.

— 1966: Master, San Juan Masonic Lodge 175.

— 1967-71: Friday Harbor Town Council member.

— 1972-73: President, San Juan Lions Club.

— 1983-84: Master, San Juan Masonic Lodge 175.

— 1985-90: Property appraiser, San Juan County Assessor’s office.

— 1986: Candidate, San Juan County Assessor.

— 1991-2010: Town of Friday Harbor zoning coordinator.

— 1999-present: San Juan Island Cemetery District commissioner.