Retired Admiral Dennis Jones Writes about the Lessons He Learned Growi

Retired Admiral Dennis Jones Writes about the Lessons He Learned Growing Up in Fairbury

Vice Admiral Dennis A. Jones, USN (Ret.), has written a fun memoir about growing up in Fairbury during the late 1950s. Written to showcase the lessons he learned while coming of age in small-town Nebraska, the book also features memorable characters and antics that would probably be frowned upon today.

From the epilogue: "Every day of my career I made decisions that were based on lessons that I had learned in Fairbury, Nebraska, and on a farm in Mahaska, Kansas. For the most part, my decisions were good, but I made mistakes—sometimes, doozies. But I knew that my childhood had given me the tools necessary to succeed and to approach situations in a logical manner. I had been taught to be decisive in my decision making, but most of all, I had been taught—no, commanded—to listen. …You can learn a lot from other people, good things and bad things, if you will just listen—I made a career of it."

Readers of A Piece of Kansas Soil by Jim Cossaart may remember Jim's great-uncle, Leslie Cossaart. Leslie Cossaart was Dennis Jones's grandfather.

Check out Parables from the Prairie: How an Admiral Was Trained on Dry Land.