A LOOK BACK -- JERRY PERSON

We have all heard of the names Smith and Jones, and in Huntington

Beach High School’s history, these names pop up too.

A while ago, we took a look at Huntington High’s Woodrow “Woody”

Smith, and this week, we are going to look at McClelland Gibby “Mac”

Jones.

Before our present campus was completed in 1926, our Jones was there

to bridge the gap between the old high school building of 1908 and the

present one of 1926. He served as its superintendent of the high school

board. Jones was a great educator, not only to our high school, but to

several colleges as well.

It was on December 14, 1885 that our Jones was born in Delevan, N.Y.

Throughout his early years, he received his primary education there,

before continuing his schooling at Michigan University.

After graduation, Jones was hired to operate a local dairy farm in

Michigan and later took to running a trout farm. Jones accepted a

position as a high school principal in Owosso, Mich. When he came to

Huntington Beach to become its school superintendent, there were less

then 200 students and 10 teachers in that old school building.

The city held an election in 1926 in which a $400,000 bond was voted

to build a new high school campus. Jones and several of his school board

members traveled around California looking at various campus designs. The

board chose the most beautiful of them all for our Mediterranean campus.

Even the great earthquake in March 1933 couldn’t damage its fine

structures.

Jones took a year’s leave of absence in 1928 to continue his education

at Columbia University, where he received his master’s degree in

education. In 1929-1930, Jones was elected president of the National

Secondary School Administrators, an honor he always cherished. He became

a charter member of the Huntington Beach Rotary Club and went on to serve

as its second president.

Jones continued at Huntington High for 25 years before joining the

social sciences department at Chaffey College in Ontario in 1945. Jones

and his wife Volena moved to Upland and the two were active members in

the Presbyterian church there.

They resided in Upland for the next 17 years before retiring to

Claremont. On Feb. 10, 1967, Huntington Beach lost the bond that linked

the old Huntington campus with its new one.

Jones used to tell his students of the time he taught class in Owosso

and in that simple classroom. One of his students was Thomas Dewey, the

man that would later go forth to challenge Franklin Roosevelt for the

office of president of the United States.

And so ends our tale of Huntington High’s famous duo of Smith and

Jones.* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.