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Ron Jones
Author, educator, and storyteller Ron Jones is best remembered for his experiment, the Third Wave, which eventually led to his firing as a public school teacher. Most of his career was spent working with people who have disabilities. Jones wrote mostly nonfiction books about his life experiences. Although many of his books were published for family and friends, Jones did publish several award-winning books that are studied in classrooms today.
Ron Jones was born in the early 1940s and was raised on 46th Avenue in the Sunset District of San Francisco, California. Throughout his books, he shares what it was like to grow up in his neighborhood during the era of Eisenhower. According to Jones, "There was this primness, and neatness to life in the Sunset. Every lawn was cut the same. People behaved pretty much the same. We played on the streets a lot. My whole childhood was spent on the street...All the families would sit outside." Jones has been able to document his life throughout his books due to his parents' excellent job of chronicling their family life through films and photographs.
Jones grew up the child of an interfaith marriage. His mother was Jewish, but Jones was not. Growing up, his family celebrated Christmas, but they would also go to synagogue "whenever the relatives came to town or for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs." Jones remembers the stories told by his grandmother at the dinner table. He learned the most about Jewish life from her and her stories. It was important to Jones's mother that family, both immediate and extended, live together. Since his parents couldn't afford a big house for everyone, the extended family moved to the Sunset. Jones's aunts, uncles, and grandparents all lived on the same avenue.
There were many activities available to Jones when he lived on 46th Avenue. Prior to television, most activities took place outside. Every week the family would go to the Hot House at the beach to enjoy enchiladas. As a child, Jones would also walk to the beach several times a week to enjoy Playland. For a dime, he could get into the fun house. Jones remembers surfing at Kelly's Cove and making skidboards to ride the waves. He would even skip school to swim at Sutro Baths or Fleishhacker Pool. According to Jones, "Our lives were exciting because they were outside mixing with people, they weren't inside."
