Dr. George Jones of East Boothbay died at home on April 14, 2017. With his family at his side, he was at peace and ready to set sail for his next great adventure. George always followed his passions, turning dreams into realities throughout his life. He believed that time was of the essence. In his 75 years, he rarely turned down the challenge of a new adventure.

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Louise Bell and George Matthew Jones Sr., he was a graduate of Christian Brothers High School, Memphis State University and University of Tennessee Medical School. Trained as an internist, he completed his endocrinology fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington, D.C. in 1972. After nine years of active military duty, he was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1982, after serving in Landstuhl and Heidelberg, Germany and at Letterman Hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco.

In 1983, George and his wife Kathleen worked in Saudi Arabia at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital and later in the remote Asir Mountains. While there they became certified scuba divers and experienced their first open water dives in the Red Sea followed by an extraordinary dive vacation in the Seychelle Islands off the coast of Africa.

In the mid 1980s George discovered a love of sailing. Of course, the only way this new found obsession could be realized was to buy a Peterson 44 and move to Annapolis, Maryland where he and Kathleen honed their nautical skills before sailing Ursa Major, with their two young children on board, to the Caribbean. Their sabbatical took them as far south as Venezuela with stops at more than thirty islands in the Leeward and Windward chain.

In 1990, George and his family moved to Boothbay Harbor, Maine after completing a second sabbatical in the Caribbean. When he arrived he had no job but as fate would have it, St. Andrews Hospital was searching for a physician with primary care and internal medicine training. That was 27 years ago and many of the best years of his life were lived here on the beautiful Midcoast of Maine.

He gave his heart and soul to his medical practice and the patients who meant so much to him. It was not unusual for him to cry with his patients after giving them a difficult diagnosis. After 12 years of private practice in Boothbay Harbor, George decided it was time to go sailing again. In semi-retirement in 2002, he bought Deja Vu, a Sparkman & Stephens 47. With family and friends on board, he explored the western Caribbean countries of Jamaica, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. He was always excited to be on board planning the next island passage … and happy hour at sunset was the best reward for a good day at sea.

He was an avid tennis and pickle ball player and loved playing cribbage with his friends at the Boothbay Community Center. He will miss them all.

Most recently he was a primary care physician at the Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta and even after his official retirement in 2015 he continued to do occasional stints at outlying clinics in Caribou and Bangor.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; son, Cameron George Jones of East Boothbay; daughter, Kate Jones and husband Chris Reardon of San Francisco and Edgecomb. He was a loving and selfless father.

The family is especially grateful to Miles and St. Andrews Hospice for their compassionate care and to his longtime friend, Lynn Orne Martin, for her love and selfless commitment to George's end of life care.

Thanks also to the dedicated staff of the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care for giving him many years of good living.

There will be a celebration of George’s amazing life this summer. An announcement will be published at a later date. Donations in his memory may be made to the Boothbay Region Community Center, 185 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538, The Boothbay Region Land Trust, 137 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538, or The Boothbay Region Food Pantry, P. O. Box 63, East Boothbay, ME 04544