January 7, 1949 – October 15, 2023

      Jon Rudyard Jennings died in Boulder, Colorado on October 15, 2023.  Following his graduation from MHS in 1966, Jon studied architecture in Chicago and New York City and graduated from New York’s Pratt Institute with a degree in Architecture.

      Perhaps not many of Jon’s MHS classmates knew that he loved the outdoors.  In addition to being a Boy Scout, he spent time camping with his family on their wooded acreage in Bevans, NJ, (now known as Walpack) along the Delaware River.  During the dry summer of 1965, the water was low exposing previously unseen areas.  Jon was out exploring the river shoreline when he found an unusual, very large rock. The rock appeared to have figures chiseled into it.  It turned out to be New Jersey’s first-discovered petroglyph, a pictorial marker left by Lenape Indians near the Delaware River rapids.  Ultimately, the rock Jon discovered with its 33 chiseled figures was named the “Jennings Petroglyph” and was donated to the Seton Hall Museum in South Orange where it remains on display.

      Consistent with his love of the outdoors, Jon became an avid, lifelong fly fisherman.  In his youth, he and his family made biennial summer road trips from New Jersey to visit his mom’s relatives in Montana.  Those trips always included fly fishing in Montana’s mountain streams.   After completing his architectural studies, Jon chose to live just two states south of Montana in Colorado, residing there nearly 50 years.  He was licensed as an architect in Colorado, New York, California and Florida doing work for many home and business owners.

      Jon had a great sense of humor and was known as a jokester who liked to make people laugh.  As the only one in his family with red hair, Jon was often asked where he got that hair from.  His routine answer was “it came with my head.”

      During his marriage to Wanda Doris Jennings, Jon was legal guardian and foster father to her niece, Heather Ford, for many years.  There was a later marriage to Dan Ye Jennings.  For the last five years Jon had a dedicated partnership with Ann Marie Hanson of Boulder, CO, who died in May 2023.

      Jon was preceded in death by his parents, Rudyard and Doris Jennings, and his brother James Earl Jennings. He is survived by his sisters Joanne and Judy, his brother Jeffrey, two nieces, five nephews, and six great nieces and great nephews.