.jpg)
Wendell Jones was born in Safford, Arizona. He was the oldest of eight children. Even though he was born in Safford, he grew up just over the state line, in Virden, New Mexico. Virden was a small community of about 350 people. He went through the 8th grade there. Since they didn't have a high school in Virden, he and other Virdenites attended high school in Duncan, Arizona. As a teenager, Wendell dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. After high school graduation, he studied for a year at Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher.
After spending a couple of years on a church mission in Guatemala/El Salvador, Wendell finished college at BYU in Provo, Utah. While there, he met and married his first wife. After graduating from BYU, he became a CPA and worked for three years in Los Angeles for Arthur Andersen, and then transferred with them to Arizona.
A few months later, Wendell left Arthur Andersen and joined Henry & Horne, now the largest local CPA firm in Arizona with approximately 160 employees. He was the managing partner with Henry & Horne for several years. After twelve years of marriage and six children, Wendell's first marriage ended in divorce. After the divorce, he had shared custody of his children. He met Carolyn, who also worked for Henry and Horne. She was a single divorcee who had custody of her three children. After a courtship of several months, they married. They have now been married over thirty-five years. Since both of their first spouses have been deceased for some time, they both claim all nine children, 41 grandchildren, and 25 great grandchildren.
Although he is now officially retired from Henry and Horne after 47 years as a CPA, Wendell still stays busy each year during tax season, setting his own schedule.
Although Wendell technically has been an Arizona resident for only forty-four years, because his growing up years were so close to Arizona, and because he was born in-state, he feels like a true Arizona native. During his lifetime, he has traveled to twenty-five foreign countries. In addition to English, he is fluent in Spanish.
Wendell joined Rotary in 1980. He has served in most club capacities including being Mesa Baseline Club President and two-time Paul Harris Fellow. He played a big part in organizing the Club's Help Me to Hear Project in Guaymas, having gone to Guaymas with the group ten or so times. In the community, Wendell has served on several boards including the Mesa United Way, the Mesa Art Center Foundation, the BYU Management Society and currently serves on the Mesa Community College Development Board of Directors.
When recalling the best vacation Wendell can remember, it was in June of 2014. His father and he rented a 50 passenger bus to take the entire family of siblings, kids and grandkids from Mesa to Nauvoo, Illinois. Fifty-one rode the bus and an additional 42 family members travelled on their own. They saw all the sights along the way and in Nauvoo and surrounding areas and stayed at the Tievoli Hills Resort in Missouri for several nights before returning to Mesa. The trip was ten days in all.
His says his most rewarding volunteer service was the two years he spent as a young man on a church mission in Guatemala and El Salvador.