In Memoriam: Virginia’s Flag Is Lowered To Honor Judge Jerrauld C. Jones

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

State flags flew at half staff on Wednesday June 4, ordered by Gov. Glenn Youngkin  in honor of the late Jerrauld Corey Jones, 70,. The highly respected, civic, political, and judicial leader of Hampton Roads, died May 31.

Jones followed the footsteps of  his father, and other post WWII Black leaders who blazed a transitional trail of  progress  from the Jim Crow era, using their professionalism and the gains of the Modern Civil Rights Movement.

Born on July 22, 1954, in Norfolk, Jones was the son of pioneering civil rights attorney Hilary H. Jones, Sr, who was the first African-American appointed to the Norfolk School Board and the Virginia Board of Education.

Jones was born two months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic Brown decision,  declaring “Separate but Equal Public Schools” based on race was illegal.

Six years afterwards Jones was entering elementary school, but Virginia was among the southern states, who applied legal and legislative  “Massive Resistance” to the decision and – was forced by the courts and civil rights activism to comply.

Two years after the Norfolk 17 desegregated six previously all-white schools, under court order, Jones was one of the first African-American students to desegregate Ingleside Elementary School in 1961.

His parents had settled their family a mile away from the all-white  school. To slow compliance with the Brown landmark decision, Black children were admitted only if they passed a test to prove they were intelligent enough to attend, Jones said during an interview with the media  in 2022. His test scores showed he was academically gifted and  was admitted.

His high academic performance caught the attention of the Stouffer Foundation which had a project  recruiting talented Black students to integrate the all-white Virginia Episcopal School  (VES) in Lynchburg.

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Jones was one of two Black male students admitted in 1967.

“I was surrounded by white kids who were future leaders of the South and around the country in the years to come,” Jones said in an article in the Princeton Alumni Weekly in August of 2022.

“Those students  needed to be exposed to people like me, and I needed to be exposed to people like them.”

Despite hostility from some, he made friends – “and some of them to this day are my best friends,” he said.

 From there he earned a B.A. cum laude at Princeton University in 1976.

Jones hadn’t imagined himself becoming an attorney, let alone a judge, he said in the Princeton Alumni Weekly. Like his mother, Corinne, he was a lifelong musician, learning to play the drums at 6. He also played the piano and trumpet for a jazz-rock band.

“I didn’t want to go to medical school, like the other Black Princeton graduates,” he said. “I went off on the road and played jazz music with my friends, much to the dismay of my then-recently widowed mother.”

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 After a year on the road as a starving musician, he found his way  to working on and receiving a Law Degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1980.

He broke another barrier as the first African-American  Virginia Supreme Court clerk that same year.

After that stint, he returned home, serving as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for two years before opening up a private law practice.

Eight years after beginning his legal career, he was elected  to the Virginia House of Delegates in  1987, representing Norfolk’s 89th District.

He replaced Dr. Yvonne Miller, who was elected to the State Senate. Jones emerged as a leader  in the Democratic caucus, serving on the powerful Rules Committee,  long-time and chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC).

Before U.S. Congressman Robert Scott of Virginia’s Third District ascended to the federal legislature in 1992, he was a state Senator and colleague of Jones.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my longtime friend,” Scott said in a statement  the day after Jones passed. “Jerrauld and I have known each other for many years. We served together in the Virginia General Assembly and shared the same commitment to justice and equality. That commitment to justice was inherited from our fathers, who served on the school boards of Newport News and Norfolk respectively during the public school integration controversies following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court  decision.”

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Scott described Jones “a brilliant jurist and dedicated public servant … he used his talents in service of others. He broke barriers and opened doors for those who came after him, not just as a legislator and judge, but as a community leader whose moral compass never wavered.

“Whether in the courtroom or the State Capitol, Jerrauld brought intellect, compassion, and a fierce commitment to fairness and fidelity to the law. He was never afraid to speak out for what was right, and he always carried himself with dignity, humility and grace,” Scott said.

In 2001, Jones ran in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He was unsuccessful, falling third behind the eventual winner,  Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine, and Delegate Alan Diamondstein of Newport News.

  Following this defeat, he ran for reelection to the House, winning his eighth term.

After leaving the House in 2002, then Governor Mark Warner appointed him as Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice, overseeing the state’s juvenile detention system.

In an interview with this reporter, Jones said that he was eager to apply his knowledge of the law,  and adopt policies he fought for in the House of Delegates to address the disparities young African-Americans, specifically, faced in the criminal justice system.

In 2005, Jones was appointed to the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, and in 2008, Governor Tim Kaine elevated him to the Norfolk Circuit Court where he was elected to a full eight-year term in 2009 and re-elected in 2017.

“Jerrauld Jones was more than a judge or a legislator – he was a giant,” said Virginia’s first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates, Don Scott.  “A presence. A mentor. A friend. For so many of us, he was a guiding light. He spent his life breaking down barriers – integrating Virginia Episcopal School, becoming the first Black law clerk to the Virginia Supreme Court, serving in the House of Delegates, and later as a respected judge.

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“But Jerauld’s legacy wasn’t about titles – it was about how he treated people. At Grace Episcopal Church, he welcomed me and my family, and had a steady, genuine way of making others feel like they belonged.

Jones is survived by his wife, The Honorable Lyn Simmons, who serves on the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, their son, Jay Jones, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and his wife Mavis, and two grandsons Charles and Zachary. He is also survived by his brothers, Hilary H. Jones III and Darryl C. Jones; brother-in-law, Charles W. Simmons, III; sister-in-law, Renee G. Jones; nieces, Tori Johnson and Morgin Williams; and several grand-nephews, nieces and cousins.