Charles Dennis Jones passed away at 81 years of age on July 6, 2025 after a long, debilitating and frustrating series of cancer and blood cancer issues.
Charlie was raised in Brooklyn and Staten Island, NY. He attended a number of Catholic grammar schools and subsequently, Saint Peter’s Highschool for Boys on Staten Island (class ‘61). He had a Bachelor of Science (pre-med) degree, master’s degree, and was an Eagle Scout.
While attending school, he had numerous jobs, ranging from bowling alley pin-boy, dishwasher, waiter, bartender, to NY City lifeguard.
Charlie was in the USAF for 26 years. He was a combat pilot, maintenance officer, Viet Nam vet and attained the rank of Colonel. During his Air Force career, he had a wide variety of assignments, mainly in fighter wings and squadrons. His “tactical sign” was Harley because he rode Harley motorcycles throughout his Stateside assignments. Two notable assignments were an exchange tour with the French Air Force, and commander of the MILGROUP in Bogota, Columbia working anti-drug programs with the Columbian National Police and U. S Agencies. Charlie had a flair for languages and was multi-lingual.
His first post-USAF job was working for Hughes Aircraft in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also worked for Raytheon, where he managed a large depot facility that manufactured and repaired components for USN. He was hired by Lockheed Martin where he was the Vice-President and General Manager of one of their technical service companies.
Charlie also worked for Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) in Iraq during the U.S. withdrawal. There he was the Deputy Program Manager for Operations and a member of the senior leadership team. In his position he traveled extensively throughout Iraq.
In 2005, parleying his aviation experience and expertise, he established the very successful C&L Consulting company. He was very generous with his charitable contributions and time, most notably to the Carolina Philharmonic, the Vass Lions Club, Moore County Schools and the Tunnels to Towers Foundation. He was well known for his sense of humor and wit. A lot of people will miss him.
Charlie is survived by Linda, his wife of 27 years, younger brother Donald as well as many friends.
A Celebration of his Life will be held on Tuesday, July 22, 2025 at 2:00pm with Chaplain Father Mike Metz officiating.
The family has requested no flowers and suggested a memorial to Tunnel to Towers. He will be interred at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery.
The family has entrusted services to Cox Memorial Funeral Home & Crematory of Vass.
